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Little Poems
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From Sappho and Li Bai to Sandra Cisneros and Ocean Vuong: a pocket-sized treasury of tiny, jewel-like poems from around the world and through the ages”A lovely pocket-sized volume. . . . I read it cover to cover, speeding through the centuries.” –Elisa Gabbert, The New York Times Book ReviewShort poems have been popular for centuries, from the famous fragments of Sappho in ancient Greece to the traditional haiku of Japan, from the Imagist poems of Ezra Pound and H. D. to the witty couplets of Dorothy Parker and Ogden Nash, from lyrical gems by Shakespeare and Rumi to modern classics by W. H. Auden and Margaret Atwood. This collection brings together brief poems—defined as fewer than fourteen lines—from a wide range of poetic traditions. Together they make for enjoyable reading and easy memorizing and provide a wealth of appropriate lines ready-made to copy into a card or an email.For any poetry lover—and anyone short on reading time—Little Poems offers a generous supply of verses that surprise, amuse, move, and delight. Everyman’s Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket.
Additional information
| Weight | 0.24 kg |
|---|---|
| Dimensions | 1.81 × 11 × 16.51 cm |
| by | |
| Format | Hardback |
| Language | |
| Pages | 256 |
| Publisher | |
| Year Published | 2023-3-14 |
| Imprint | |
| Publication City/Country | USA |
| ISBN 10 | 0593536304 |
| About The Author | MICHAEL HENNESSY is professor emeritus of English at Texas State University. He has read, studied, taught, and written about poetry for more than forty years. He lives in Chicago. |
"A lovely pocket-sized volume. . . . I read it cover to cover, speeding through the centuries." –Elisa Gabbert, The New York Times Book Review |
|
| Table Of Content | Foreword by Michael Hennessy EARLY POETS OF GREECE, ROME, AND CHINA SAPPHO Be Kind to Me SAPPHO It’s No Use SAPPHO Tonight I’ve Watched SAPPHO You May Forget But ANACREON Wreath ANACREON On Drinking . PRAXILLA Adonis in the Underworld PRAXILLA Seek Love among the Brave ANYTE The Cock Shall Crow No More ANYTE Elm Tree CATULLUS Poem 70 CATULLUS Poem 85 CATULLUS Poem 92 CATULLUS Poem 101 ANONYMOUS (CHINESE) Meeting in the Road EMPEROR WUTI On the Death of Li Fuje¯n MARTIAL Epigram 10.47 MARTIAL Epigram 10.61 MARTIAL Epigram 5.9 MARTIAL Epigram 9.33 MARTIAL Epigram 6.12 MARTIAL Epigram 6.57 PHILIP OF THESSALONICA A Gardener ANONYMOUS (CHINESE) Plucking the Rushes JULIAN THE EGYPTIAN Two Epigrams LI BAI Thoughts in the Silent Night LI BAI Taking Leave of a Friend WANG WEI Deer Enclosure WANG WEI Thinking of My Brothers DU FU Travelling Northward DU FU Sunset BAI JUYI Spring Grasses MEDIEVAL AND EARLY MODERN POETS ANONYMOUS From The Triads of Ireland ANONYMOUS The Viking Terror HANSHAN Two Songs of Cold Mountain LU YOU Evening in the Village ARNAUT DANIEL Alba ANONYMOUS Cuckoo Song RUMI Yesterday I Went to Him Full of Dismay ANONYMOUS Fowls in the Frith CHRISTINE DE PIZAN Rondeau GEOFFREY CHAUCER Roundel: Welcome Summer ANONYMOUS Thirty Days Has November ANONYMOUS I Am of Ireland ARAKIDA MORITAKE Fallen Flower ARAKIDA MORITAKE Summer Night PIERRE DE RONSARD A Shepherd Prays to the God Pan ANONYMOUS Western Wind ANONYMOUS Hey Nonny No ANONYMOUS Two Madrigals EDMUND SPENSER Shipwreck SIR PHILIP SIDNEY A Ditty WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Ariel’s Song WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Full Fathom Five WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE O Mistress Mine WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE Tell Me Where is Fancy Bred THOMAS DEKKER Golden Slumbers SEVENTEENTH- AND EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY POETS JOHN DONNE A Burnt Ship JOHN DONNE No Man Is an Island BEN JONSON The Kiss BEN JONSON On My First Son JOHN FLETCHER Care-Charming Sleep ROBERT HERRICK Upon Julia’s Clothes ROBERT HERRICK On Julia’s Breath ROBERT HERRICK Upon a Child ROBERT HERRICK Upon Prue, His Maid GEORGE HERBERT Bitter-Sweet JOHN MILTON Song on May Morning ANNE BRADSTREET To My Dear and Loving Husband RICHARD CRASHAW To the Infant Martyrs RICHARD CRASHAW Upon the Infant Martyrs RICHARD LOVELACE To Lucasta, Going to the Wars JOHN DRYDEN Song Sung by Aerial Spirits MATSUO BASH¯O Four Haiku ANNE FINCH On Myself JONATHAN SWIFT From Verses Made for Fruit-Women ALEXANDER POPE Upon a Girl of Seven Years Old FUKUDA CHIYONI Four Haiku YOSA BUSON Four Haiku ANONYMOUS From Tommy Thumb’s Pretty Song Book JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE Wayfarer’s Night Song JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE All Things the Gods Bestow Three Epigrams: Sir Henry Wotton John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester Alexander Pope PHILLIS WHEATLEY On Being Brought from Africa to America KOBAYASHI ISSA Four Haiku ROBERT BURNS The Ploughman’s Life ROBERT BURNS Anna, Thy Charms WILLIAM BLAKE Infant Joy WILLIAM BLAKE Infant Sorrow WILLIAM BLAKE Eternity WILLIAM BLAKE The Sick Rose ANONYMOUS From Mother Goose’s Melody NINETEENTH-CENTURY POETS WILLIAM WORDSWORTH My Heart Leaps Up WILLIAM WORDSWORTH A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal DOROTHY WORDSWORTH From Journal Written at Grasmere SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE Answer to a Child’s Question SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE On Donne’s Poetry LEIGH HUNT Jenny Kissed Me GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON So We’ll Go No More A Roving PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY Music, When Soft Voices Die PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY To the Moon JOHN CLARE Birds’ Nests JOHN CLARE The Beanfield JOHN KEATS This Living Hand JOHN KEATS I Had a Dove ALEXANDER PUSHKIN I Loved You ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING Best ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON The Eagle ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON Flower in the Crannied Wall ROBERT BROWNING Meeting at Night ROBERT BROWNING Parting at Morning EMILY BRONTË Love and Friendship LEWIS CARROLL How Doth the Little Crocodile LEWIS CARROLL The Owl and the Panther Two Limericks: Cosmo Monkhouse Edward Lear HERMAN MELVILLE Monody WALT WHITMAN A Noiseless Patient Spider WALT WHITMAN A Glimpse WALT WHITMAN To Old Age EMILY DICKINSON I’m Nobody EMILY DICKINSON Wild Nights EMILY DICKINSON After Great Pain CHRISTINA ROSSETTI Sleeping at Last GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS Pied Beauty PAUL VERLAINE Tantalized ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON Requiem STEPHEN CRANE Many Red Devils Ran from My Heart STEPHEN CRANE In the Desert MODERN POETS: EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY THOMAS HARDY At Tea A. E. HOUSMAN Loveliest of Trees A. E. HOUSMAN He Would Not Stay for Me RABINDRANATH TAGORE Who Are You, Reader? RABINDRANATH TAGORE Logic CONSTANTINE CAVAFY Ionic WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS A Drinking Song WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS To a Squirrel at Kyle-Na-No PAUL VALÉRY In the Sun RUDYARD KIPLING Seal Lullaby MASAOKA SHIKI Four Haiku ROBERT FROST Nothing Gold Can Stay ROBERT FROST Fire and Ice AMY LOWELL Opal AMY LOWELL A Decade RAINER MARIA RILKE The Panther ADELAIDE CRAPSEY Two Cinquains CARL SANDBURG Fog CARL SANDBURG Choose CARL SANDBURG Grass WALLACE STEVENS Life Is Motion WALLACE STEVENS Anecdote of the Jar WALLACE STEVENS Of Mere Being ALICE CORBIN HENDERSON Humoresque GUILLAUME APOLLINAIRE Mirror JAMES JOYCE A Flower Given to My Daughter JAMES JOYCE From Ulysses: Found Poems KAHLIL GIBRAN The Fox WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS The Red Wheelbarrow WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS This Is Just to Say E. E. CUMMINGS l(a D. H. LAWRENCE Green D. H. LAWRENCE The Gazelle Calf EZRA POUND In a Station of the Metro EZRA POUND Alba EZRA POUND The Bath Tub H. D. Heat MARIANNE MOORE To a Snail MARIANNE MOORE O To Be a Dragon T. S. ELIOT From Preludes 1 GIUSEPPE UNGARETTI Morning GIUSEPPE UNGARETTI Soldiers BORIS PASTERNAK Hops ANNA AKHMATOVA The Pillow Hot CLAUDE MCKAY The Tropics in New York EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY First Fig EDNA ST. VINCENT MILLAY Second Fig DOROTHY PARKER Résumé JEAN TOOMER Reapers FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA From Night FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA Farewell COUNTEE CULLEN Incident MODERN POETS: MID-TWENTIETH-CENTURY JORGE LUIS BORGES The Moon LANGSTON HUGHES Harlem LANGSTON HUGHES Poem (To F. S.) LANGSTON HUGHES Suicide Note OGDEN NASH Reflections on Ice-Breaking OGDEN NASH The Lama STEVIE SMITH Not Waving but Drowning LORINE NIEDECKER Poet’s Work LORINE NEIDECKER A Monster Owl LORINE NIEDECKER March PABLO NERUDA Octopi KENNETH REXROTH From the Persian (1) KENNETH REXROTH From the Persian (2) W. H. AUDEN That Night When Joy Began W. H. AUDEN Epitaph on a Tyrant W. H. AUDEN August 1968 W. H. AUDEN From Shorts Two Limericks: Dixon Merritt A. H. R. Buller RICHARD WRIGHT Four Haiku THEODORE ROETHKE Child on Top of a Greenhouse ELIZABETH BISHOP Casabianca RANDALL JARRELL The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner OCTAVIO PAZ The Street GWENDOLYN BROOKS We Real Cool JACK KEROUAC Four Haiku PHILIP LARKIN Days PHILIP LARKIN This Be the Verse PHILIP LARKIN Cut Grass ALLEN GINSBERG Blessed Be the Muses ALLEN GINSBERG Fourth Floor, Dawn FRANK O’HARA Animals MOLLY HOLDEN The Fields for Miles JAMES WRIGHT Autumn Begins in Martins Ferry, Ohio SYLVIA PLATH Metaphors CONTEMPORARY POETS LISEL MUELLER Small Poem about the Hounds and the Hares A. R. AMMONS Clarifications A. R. AMMONS Salute ROBERT CREELEY I Know a Man CHARLES TOMLINSON Frost CHARLES TOMLINSON In December JOHN HOLLANDER Macrodot ADRIENNE RICH In the Evening TED HUGHES Snails SHEL SILVERSTEIN The Toucan SIR DEREK WALCOTT The Fist JOHN UPDIKE Youth’s Progress N. SCOTT MOMADAY The Snow Mare VÁCLAV HAVEL Alienation LUCILLE CLIFTON Homage to My Hair JIM HARRISON Oriole MICHAEL S. HARPER American History CHARLES SIMIC On This Very Street in Belgrade CHARLES SIMIC Watermelons MARGARET ATWOOD You Fit into Me MARGARET ATWOOD Last Year I Abstained SEAMUS HEANEY Mother of the Groom TED KOOSER Floater JAMES WELCH The Man from Washington MICHAEL ONDAATJE Biography WENDY COPE The Orange WENDY COPE Valentine WENDY COPE Another Unfortunate Choice RITA DOVE Geometry ALBERTO RÍOS Immigrant Centuries GARY SOTO From The Elements of San Joaquin MONIZA ALVI Rural Scene LORNA DEE CERVANTES The Body as Braille SANDRA CISNEROS From The Rodrigo Poems CAROL ANN DUFFY Strange Place CATHY SONG April Moon KATHLEEN PEIRCE Begging the Question LIYOUNG LEE Eating Together STEVE WILSON Of April SIMON ARMITAGE Homework SHERMAN ALEXIE “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” PATRICK PHILLIPS Having a Fight with You CECILY PARKS Conversation between Fox and Field LUISA MURADYAN Crane CLEMONCE HEARD School-to-Prison Pants DANEZ SMITH little prayer OCEAN VUONG Torso of Air |
| Excerpt From Book | FOREWORDMost of us experience literature for the first time in the form of a “little poem.” Long before we’ve tasted our first solid food, we’ve heard a soothing lullaby spoken or sung by a parent, and before we can walk, we have already begun to accumulate a storehouse of nursery rhymes. The sounds and rhythms of those little poems are embedded in memory, and we pass them down to the next next generation. But little poems range far beyond the nursery. Nearly all poets in all ages have written them. Even John Milton, author of the epic-length Paradise Lost, wrote a poem ten lines long. Milton’s contemporary Robert Herrick, on the other hand, created many little poems, making them his signature genre. The same holds true for poets across time: those who favored longer forms occasionally wrote brief songs. And others—ancient Greek epigram writers, Japanese haiku poets, and modern writers like William Carlos Williams, Langston Hughes, and Dorothy Parker—often favored brevity. What exactly qualifies as a “little poem”? There is no consensus, but the Italian word “sonetto,” source of the English word “sonnet,” means “little song,” suggesting that fourteen lines may be a rule of thumb. But in this book, even a sonnet would be “long.” All the poems I have included—almost 300 of them, by 175 different authors—are under fourteen lines. Most range from two lines to twelve. A few have thirteen lines—just shy of a sonnet. Poets have been writing such poems for thousands of years, starting in the ancient world and continuing to the present day. The earliest work in this book is by the Greek poet Sappho, who lived in the seventh century BCE; the most recent is by poets still active in the 2020s, such as Carol Ann Duffy, Danez Smith, and Ocean Vuong. What do little poems have in common besides their brevity? Probably not a great deal—except for their astonishing variety. Many are highly accessible on first reading, almost tweet-like. Others invite contemplation: they call us back to re-read and ponder their lines. Despite their brevity, however, little poems can do most of what longer poems can do: tell a story; paint a picture; evoke an emotion; argue a point; make us laugh or cry. They can be serious or sarcastic, somber or silly, disturbing or comforting. And like all poems, they invite us to see the world with new eyes and to hear it with new ears. The poems in this book do all those things. And their chronological arrangement highlights their diversity in surprising ways. The first section, for example, includes a mournful poem by first-century BCE Chinese Emperor Wu-ti about the death of his beloved mistress. But this poem stands in close proximity to two others by the Roman poet Martial making fun of people with bad hairpieces. Other sections likewise include juxtapositions that I hope will broaden conceptions of what poetry is and what it can do. In the second section, works by Chaucer and Shakespeare inhabit the same space as the earliest written English version of the well-known children’s mnemonic “Thirty Days Has November.” And at the end of the section, readers will find a Thomas Dekker poem that Paul McCartney adapted 370 years later for the Beatles song “Golden Slumbers.” The next section, too, contains many “serious” poems by such major seventeenth- and eighteenth-century figures as Basho, Goethe, and Blake, but the section also offers lighter fare: Mother Goose nursery rhymes, a sharp-tongued political epigram by John Wilcox, and two “verses for fruit-sellers” by Jonathan Swift. Likewise, the selection of nineteenth-century writing includes moving love poems by Alexander Pushkin and John Keats, but these classic pieces share space with a page of limericks and Emily Dickinson’s playfully profound “I’m nobody! Who are you?” Modern and contemporary poets, who are amply represented in the final three sections of the book, demonstrate even more vividly the large arena that little poems occupy. Powerful poems about love are matched by comic poems on the same topic by contemporary British poet Wendy Cope. There is also a touching lullaby by Rudyard Kipling; a poem by W. H. Auden about the 1968 Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia; a word-play rhyme by Shel Silverstein; and haiku by Masaoka Shiki, Richard Wright, and Jack Kerouac. My hope is that readers will find this eclectic mix of little poems as rewarding to read as it was for me to gather.–Michael Hennessy |
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