Temporary exhibition of love poetry

1. ONE HEART, ONE AND CUPID A
KISS FOR A POEM OF LOVE IN
ENGLISH
TEMPORARY EXHIBITION

2. I've a Pain in my Head by Jane Austen
'I've a pain in my head'
Said the suffering Beckford;
To her Doctor so dread.
'Oh! what shall I take for't?'
Said this Doctor so dread
Whose name it was Newnham.
'For this pain in your head
Ah! What can you do Ma'am?'
Said Miss Beckford, 'Suppose
If you think there's no risk,
I take a good Dose
Of calomel brisk.'--
'What a praise worthy Notion.'
Replied Mr. Newnham.
'You shall have such a potion
And so will I too Ma'am.'

3. Love's Secret by William
Blake
Never seek to tell thy love,
Love that never told can be;
For the gentle wind doth move
Silently, invisibly.
I told my love, I told my love,
I told her all my heart,
Trembling, cold, in ghastly fears.
Ah! she did depart!
Soon after she was gone from
me,
A traveller came by,
Silently, invisibly:
He took her with a sigh.

4. Love and Life by John Wilmot
All my past life is mine no more,
The flying hours are gone,
Like transitory dreams giv'n o'er,
Whose images are kept in store
By memory alone.
The time that is to come is not;
How can it then be mine?
The present moment's all my lot;
And that, as fast as it is got,
Phyllis, is only thine.
Then talk not of inconstancy,
False hearts, and broken vows;
If I, by miracle, can be
This live-long minute true to thee,
'Tis all that Heav'n allows.

5. Love by William
Shakespeare
TELL me where is Fancy
bred,
Or in the heart or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?
Reply, reply.
It is engender'd in the eyes,
With gazing fed; and Fancy
dies
In the cradle where it lies.
Let us all ring Fancy's knell:
I'll begin it,--Ding, dong, bell.

6. Cupid Sleeping by Mary Darby Robinson Attun'd their notes to plaintive Love.
[Inscribed to Her Grace the Duchess of Thus lay the Boywhen DEVONS feet
Devonshire.] Unknowing reach'd the lone retreat;
Surpriz'd, to see the beauteous child
CLOSE in a woodbine's tangled shade, Of every dang'rous pow'r beguil'd!
The BLOOMING GOD asleep was laid; Approaching near his mossy bed,
His brows with mossy roses crown'd; Soft whisp'ring to herself she said:-
His golden darts lay scatter'd round; " Thou little imp, whose potent art
To shade his auburn, curled head, " Bows low with grief the FEELING HEART;
A purple canopy was spread, " Whose thirst insatiate, loves to sip
Which gently with the breezes play'd, " The nectar from the ruby lip;
And shed around a soften'd shade. " Whose barb'rous joy is prone to seek
Upon his downy smiling cheek, " The soft carnation of the cheek;
Adorned with many a "dimple sleek," " Now, bid thy tyrant sway farewell,
Beam'd glowing health and tender blisses, " As thus I break each magic spell: "
His coral lip which teem'd with kisses Snatch'd from the bough, where high it hung,
Ripe, glisten'd with ambrosial dew, O'er her white shoulder straight she flung
That mock'd the rose's deepest hue. The burnish'd quiver, golden dart,
His quiver on a bough was hung, And each vain emblem of his art;
His bow lay carelessly unstrung: Borne from his pow'r they now are seen,
His breath mild odour scatter'd round, The attributes of BEAUTY'S QUEEN!
His eyes an azure fillet bound: While LOVE in secret hides his tears;
On every side did zephyrs play, DIAN the form of VENUS wears!
To fan the sultry beams of day;
While the soft tenants of the grove,

7. Love is enough by William Morris
LOVE is enough: though the World be a-waning,
And the woods have no voice but the voice of
complaining,
Though the sky be too dark for dim eyes to discover
The gold-cups and daisies fair blooming thereunder,
Though the hills be held shadows, and the sea a dark
wonder,
And this day draw a veil over all deeds pass'd over,
Yet their hands shall not tremble, their feet shall not
falter;
The void shall not weary, the fear shall not alter
These lips and these eyes of the loved and the lover.

8. Young Love by Andrew Marvell For his morning Sacrifice.
Come little Infant, Love me now, Now then love me: time may take
While thine unsuspected years Thee before thy time away:
Clear thine aged Fathers brow Of this Need wee'l Virtue make,
From cold Jealousie and Fears. And learn Love before we may.
Pretty surely 'twere to see So we win of doubtful Fate;
By young Love old Time beguil'd: And, if good she to us meant,
While our Sportings are as free We that Good shall antedate,
As the Nurses with the Child. Or, if ill, that Ill prevent.
Common Beauties stay fifteen; Thus as Kingdomes, frustrating
Such as yours should swifter Other Titles to their Crown,
move; In the craddle crown their King,
Whole fair Blossoms are too So all Forraign Claims to drown.
green
Yet for lust, but not for Love. So, to make all Rivals vain,
Now I crown thee with my Love:
Love as much the snowy Lamb Crown me with thy Love again,
Or the wanton Kid does prize, And we both shall Monarchs
As the lusty Bull or Ram, prove.

9. New Love, New Life by Amy II.
Levy
I. 'Tis true,--in other days
Have I unbarred the door;
She, who so long has lain He knows the walks and ways--
Stone-stiff with folded wings, Love has been here before.
Within my heart again
The brown bird wakes and sings. Love blest and love accurst
Was here in days long past;
Brown nightingale, whose strain This time is not the first,
Is heard by day, by night, But this time is the last.
She sings of joy and pain,
Of sorrow and delight.

10. OF LOVE: A SONNET by Robert
Herrick
How Love came in, I do not know,
Whether by th'eye, or ear, or no;
Or whether with the soul it came,
At first, infused with the same;
Whether in part 'tis here or there,
Or, like the soul, whole every where.
This troubles me; but I as well
As any other, this can tell;
That when from hence she does
depart,
The outlet then is from the heart.

11. Jenny Kissed Me by James Henry
Leigh Hunt
Jenny kissed me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and wealth have missed
me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kissed me.

12. Time of Roses by Thomas Hood
It was not in the Winter
Our loving lot was cast;
It was the time of roses—
We pluck'd them as we pass'd!
That churlish season never frown'd
On early lovers yet:
O no—the world was newly crown'd
With flowers when first we met!
'Twas twilight, and I bade you go,
But still you held me fast;
It was the time of roses—
We pluck'd them as we pass'd!

13. Bridal Song by John Fletcher
CYNTHIA, to thy power and thee
We obey.
Joy to this great company!
And no day
Come to steal this night away
Till the rites of love are ended,
And the lusty bridegroom say,
Welcome, light, of all befriended!
Pace out, you watery powers below;
Let your feet,
Like the galleys when they row,
Even beat;
Let your unknown measures, set
To the still winds, tell to all
That gods are come, immortal, great,
To honour this great nuptial!

14. Two Lovers by George Eliot
Two parents by the evening fire:
Two lovers by a moss-grown spring: The red light fell about their knees
They leaned soft cheeks together On heads that rose by slow degrees
there, Like buds upon the lily spire.
Mingled the dark and sunny hair, O patient life!
And heard the wooing thrushes sing. O tender strife!
O budding time!
O love's blest prime! The two still sat together there,
The red light shone about their
Two wedded from the portal stept: knees;
The bells made happy carolings, But all the heads by slow degrees
The air was soft as fanning wings, Had gone and left that lonely pair.
White petals on the pathway slept. O voyage fast!
O pure-eyed bride! O vanished past!
O tender pride!
The red light shone upon the floor
Two faces o'er a cradle bent: And made the space between them
Two hands above the head were wide;
locked: They drew their chairs up side by
These pressed each other while they side,
rocked, Their pale cheeks joined, and
Those watched a life that love had said, "Once more!"
sent. O memories!
O solemn hour! O past that is!
O hidden power!

15. To His Coy Love by Michael Drayton By me thou art prevented:
'Tis nothing to be plagued in hell,
I pray thee leave, love me no more, But thus in heaven tormented.
Call home the heart you gave me.
I but in vain that saint adore Clip me no more in those dear arms,
That can, but will not, save me: Nor thy life's comfort call me;
These poor half-kisses kill me quite; O, these are but too powerful charms,
Was ever man thus served? And do but more enthral me.
Amidst an ocean of delight But see how patient I am grown,
For pleasure to be starved. In all this coil about thee;
Come, nice thing, let my heart alone,
Show me no more those snowy breasts I cannot live without thee!
With azure riverets branched,
Where whilst mine eye with plenty feasts,
Yet is my thirst not stanched.
O Tantalus, thy pains ne'er tell,

16. Confined Love by John Donne
Some man unworthy to be possessor
Of old or new love, himself being false or weak,
Thought his pain and shame would be lesser
If on womankind he might his anger wreak,
And thence a law did grow,
One might but one man know;
But are other creatures so?
Are Sun, Moon, or Stars by law forbidden
To smile where they list, or lend away their light?
Are birds divorced, or are they chidden
If they leave their mate, or lie abroad a-night?
Beasts do no jointures lose
Though they new lovers choose,
But we are made worse than those.
Who e'er rigged fair ship to lie in harbours
And not to seek new lands, or not to deal withal?
Or built fair houses, set trees, and arbors,
Only to lock up, or else to let them fall?
Good is not good unless
A thousand it possess,
But dost waste with greediness.

17. Boldness in Love by Thomas Carew
Mark how the bashful morn in vain
Courts the amorous marigold,
With sighing blasts and weeping rain,
Yet she refuses to unfold.
But when the planet of the day
Approacheth with his powerful ray,
The she spreads, then she receives
His warmer beams into her virgin leaves.
So shalt thou thrive in love, fond boy;
If thy tears and sighs discover
Thy grief, thou never shalt enjoy
The just reward of a bold lover.
But when with moving accents thou
Shalt constant faith and service vow,
Thy Celia shall receive those charms
With open ears, and with unfolded arms.

18. Love Constrained to Obedience
by William Cowper Then all my servile works were
done
No strength of nature can suffice A righteousness to raise;
To serve the Lord aright: Now, freely chosen in the Son,
And what she has she I freely choose His ways.
misapplies,
For want of clearer light. "What shall I do," was then the
word,
How long beneath the law I lay "That I may worthier grow?"
In bondage and distress; "What shall I render to the Lord?"
I toll'd the precept to obey, Is my inquiry now.
But toil'd without success.
To see the law by Christ fulfilled
Then, to abstain from outward sin And hear His pardoning voice,
Was more than I could do; Changes a slave into a child,
Now, if I feel its power within, And duty into choice.
I feel I hate it too.

19. Love Lives Beyond The Tomb
by John Clare 'Tis heard in Spring
When light and sunbeams, warm
Love lives beyond the tomb, and kind,
And earth, which fades like dew! On angel's wing
I love the fond, Bring love and music to the mind.
The faithful, and the true.
And where's the voice,
Love lives in sleep: So young, so beautiful, and sweet
'Tis happiness of healthy dreams: As Nature's choice,
Eve's dews may weep, Where Spring and lovers meet?
But love delightful seems.
Love lives beyond the tomb,
'Tis seen in flowers, And earth, which fades like dew!
And in the morning's pearly dew; I love the fond,
In earth's green hours, The faithful, and the true.
And in the heaven's eternal blue.

20. Love and Friendship by Emily Bronte
Love is like the wild rose-briar,
Friendship like the holly-tree --
The holly is dark when the rose-briar
blooms
But which will bloom most contantly?
The wild-rose briar is sweet in the spring,
Its summer blossoms scent the air;
Yet wait till winter comes again
And who wil call the wild-briar fair?
Then scorn the silly rose-wreath now
And deck thee with the holly's sheen,
That when December blights thy brow
He may still leave thy garland green.

21. Love's Blindness by Alfred Austin
Now do I know that Love is blind, for I
Can see no beauty on this beauteous earth,
No life, no light, no hopefulness, no mirth,
Pleasure nor purpose, when thou art not nigh.
Thy absence exiles sunshine from the sky,
Seres Spring's maturity, checks Summer's birth,
Leaves linnet's pipe as sad as plover's cry,
And makes me in abundance find but dearth.
But when thy feet flutter the dark, and thou
With orient eyes dawnest on my distress,
Suddenly sings a bird on every bough,
The heavens expand, the earth grows less and
less,
The ground is buoyant as the ether now,
And all looks lovely in thy loveliness.

22. POEMS TAKEN FROM:
HTTP://FAMOUSPOETSANDPOEMS.COM/COUNTRY/ENGLAND/ENGLISH_POETS.HTML