Sappho was a female poet who was well known in ancient Greece and Rome for her lyrical poetry. She was most famous for her poems involving women who loved women, and it is from her name that sapphic, a term referring to sexual relations between women, originated. This is a compendium of her surviving work, a collection of 54 fragments translated by Henry de Vere Stacpoole.

Endymion is the largest work by John Keats and was composed between April and November 1817. It was published in April 1818, and the critical reception was almost universally hostile. The plot is built around the ancient Greek legend of Endymion, the young shepherd whose beauty was such that the goddess of the Moon entreated Zeus to cast him into a permanent sleep so that she could gaze on him without interruption. Keats expands this story into an epistle on beauty and love, and weaves into it elements from several other Greek legends.

While he is most famous for his didactic fable, The Prophet, the works of Kahlil Gibran (1883-1931) address a wide range of philosophical and social issues. The overriding theme of his narratives is not the religious universalism that he is supposed to represent, but rather the inevitable conflict between human aspirations and the remorseless machinations of fate.

Here's a wonderful selection of Wordsworth's finest work, including "Daffodils", "Sonnets", "Upon Westminster Bridge", and "The Tables Turned".

Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 - 6 October 1892) was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and remains one of the most popular poets in the English language. He was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire, a rector's son and fourth of 12 children and reportedly a descendant of King Edward III of England.

Poems can evoke within us an individual response that takes us by surprise; that opens our ears and eyes to very personal feelings. Forget the idea of classic poetry being somehow dull and boring and best kept to children's textbooks. It still has life, vibrancy, and relevance to our lives today. Where to start? How to do that? Poetry can be difficult. We've put together some very eclectic Poetry Hours, with a broad range of poets and themes, to entice you and seduce you with all manner of temptations.

The complete collection of Edgar Allan Poe's poems, read by Audie Award-winning actor Peter Noble. Edgar Allan Poe was a writer, poet, editor and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre, and is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and of American literature. Poe was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story and considered to be the inventor of the detective fiction genre, as well as a significant contributor to the emerging genre of science fiction.

It is often said that two things are unavoidable: death and taxes. Certainly the latter is a common thorn in adult life, but as to the former it seems that for many people it is merely a hiccup in life’s journey. A journey they wish, if being of good deed and character, to share at the eternity of heaven’s largesse, a reward for faith and the obligations of religion. Of course for those not so fortunate an altogether different experience was prepared for them: hell. Its nightmare visions are so terrifying, conjured up by Dante, Milton, Blake, Baudelaire and many others.   

To hear one line of his is to forget all the troubles of the world. Rabindranath Tagore writes music for his words, and one understands at every moment that he is so abundant, so spontaneous, so daring his passion, so full of surprise, because he is doing something which has never seemed strange, unnatural, or in need of defense. At every moment the heart of this poet flows outward without derogation or condescension, for it knows that most will understand; and it has filled itself with the circumstances of life.

Selected and written by one of the world’s leading, modern funeral poets - whose poems have already touched tens of millions of lives in over 172 countries through his website and facebook pages.

 Invictus is stoicism encapsulated in a poem. It is a potent piece by William Ernest Henley, first published in 1888. The poem is short. yet highly motivational. It oozes gems pertaining to perseverance, willpower, and an unconquerable spirit. A powerful pithy poetic pep talk. 

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was born on May 12th, 1828 in London, England. Together with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, they developed and founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. It’s mission: to reform English art and return to the detail, intense colours and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art. The brotherhood's magazine, The Germ, was first published in 1850, with Rossetti contributing a poem, 'The Blessed Damozel', and a story about a fictional Italian artist inspired by a vision of a woman.

If you're a Tagore fan, this is a feast!

Poems was published in 1920. The poems of that work are included here and are as follows: Strange Meeting; Greater Love; Apologia pro Poemate Meo; The Show; Mental Cases; Parable of the Old Man and the Young; Arms and the Boy;

This poet of Victorian times was held in awe for his magnificent works, including "In Memoriam", "Morte D'Arthur", and "Charge of the Light Brigade". His language and command of vocabulary seem particularly in keeping with the grand sweep of Victorian ambition. Many selections are asembled here and read with great character by Dame Sybil Thorndike, Sir Edward Casson, and Robert Speaight.