A Selection of Poems

William Ernest Henley

• Publisher: White Press
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN: 9781473322493
• eBook ISBN: 9781473397279
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: European Poetry
• Index: Literature

This early works by William Ernest Henley were originally published in the late 19th and early 20th century and we are now republishing them with a brand new introductory biography. 'A Selection of Poems' is a collection of some the best poetry by Henley, and includes 'Invictus', 'Lady Probationer', 'A Child', and many more. William Ernest Henley was born on 23rd August 1849, in Gloucester, England. In 1867, Henley passed the Oxford Local Schools Examination and set off to London to establish himself as a journalist. Unfortunately, his career was frequently interrupted by long stays in hospital due to a diseased right foot which he refused to have amputated. During a three year stay at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, Henley wrote and published his collection of poetry 'In Hospital' (1875). This publication is noteworthy in particular for being some of the earliest examples of free verse written in England. Henley's best-remembered work is his poem "Invictus", written in 1888. It is a passionate and defiant poem, reportedly written as a demonstration of resilience following the amputation of his leg.

Table of contents

• A Selection of Poems
• William Ernest Henley
• A Child
• A Dainty Thing’s The Villanelle
• A Desolate Shore
• A Late Lark Twitters From The Quiet Skies
• A Love By The Sea
• A New Song to an Old Tune
• A Thanksgiving
• A Wink From Hesper
• After
• Allegro Maestoso
• Andante Con Moto
• Anterotics
• Apparition
• Arabian Night’s Entertainments
• As Like The Woman As You Can
• At Queensferry
• Attadale, West Highlands
• Ave, Caesar!
• Back-View
• Ballade Made In The Hot Weather
• Ballade Of A Toyokuni Colour-Print
• Ballade of Dead Actors
• Ballade Of Midsummer Days And Nights
• Ballade Of Truisms
• Ballade Of Youth And Age
• Barmaid
• Before
• Beside The Idle Summer Sea
• Between the Dusk of a Summer Night
• Blithe Dreams Arise To Greet Us
• Bring Her Again, O Western Wind
• Casualty
• Children: Private Ward
• Clinical
• Croquis
• Crosses And Troubles
• Dedication--To My Wife
• Discharged
• Double Ballad Of Life And Death
• Double Ballade on the Nothingness of Things
• Easy is the Triolet
• England, My England
• Enter Patient
• Envoy--To Charles Baxter
• Epilogue
• Etching
• Fill A Glass With Golden Wine
• Fresh From His Fastnesses
• Friends.... Old Friends......
• From A Window In Princes Street
• From The Break The Nightingale
• Grave
• Gull In An Aery Morrice
• Here They Trysted, And Here They Strayed
• House-Surgeon
• I am the Reaper
• I Gave My Heart To A Woman
• I. M. R. T. Hamilton Bruce (1846-1899)
• If I Were King
• If It Should Come To Be
• In Fisherrow
• In Rotten Row
• In The Dials
• In The Placid Summer Midnight
• In The Waste Hour
• In The Year That’s Come and Gone
• Interior
• Interlude
• Invictus
• It Came With The Threat Of A Waning Moon
• Kate-A-Whimsies, John-A-Dream
• Lady Probationer
• Largo E Mesto
• Last Post
• Let Us Be Drunk
• Life In Her Creaking Shoes
• Life Is Bitter
• London Types:
• London Types: Barmaid
• London Types: Beef-Eater
• London Types: Bluecoat Boy
• London Types: Bus Driver
• London Types: Drum-Major
• London Types: Flower-Girl
• London Types: Hawker
• London Types: ‘Liza
• London Types: Mounted Police
• London Types: News Boy
• London Types: Sandwich-Man
• London Types: The Artist Muses At His Ease
• London Types:Life-Guardsman
• London Voluntaries IV: Out of the Poisonous East
• Madam Life’s a Piece in Bloom
• Margaritae Sorori
• Midsummer Midnight Skies
• Music
• Nocturn
• Not To The Staring Day
• O Gather Me the Rose
• O, Falmouth Is a Fine Town
• O, Have You Blessed, Behind The Stars
• O, Time And Change, They Range And Range
• On The Way To Kew
• One With The Ruined Sunset
• Operation
• Orientale
• Out Of The Night That Covers Me
• Over the Hills and Far Away
• Pastoral
• Praise The Generous Gods
• Pro Rege Nostro
• Prologue
• Romance
• Scherzando
• Scrubber
• She Saunters By The Swinging Seas
• Some Starlit Garden Grey With Dew
• Space And Dread and The Dark
• Staff Nurse: New Style
• Staff Nurse:Old Style
• Suicide
• The Chief
• The Full Sea Rolls And Thunders
• The Gods Are Dead
• The Nightingale Has A Lyre Of Gold
• The Past Was Goodly Once
• The Rain and the Wind
• The Sands Are Alive With Sunshine
• The Sea Is Full Of Wandering Foam
• The Shadow Of Dawn
• The Skies Are Strown With Stars
• The Song Of The Sword--To Rudyard Kipling
• The Spirit Of Wine
• The Spring, My Dear
• The Surges Gushed And Sounded
• The Wan Sun Westers, Faint And Slow
• The Ways Are Green
• The Ways Of Death Are Soothing And Serene
• The West A Glimmering Lake Of Light
• There Is A Wheel Inside My Head
• There’s a Regret
• Thick Is The Darkness
• Time And The Earth
• To Me At My Fifth-Floor Window
• To My Mother
• To My Wife
• To: W A
• Tree, Old Tree Of The Triple Crook
• Trees And The Menace Of Night
• Unconquerable
• Under A Stagnant Sky
• Vigil
• Villanelle
• Villon’s Straight Tip to All Cross Coves
• Visitor
• Waiting
• We Are The Choice Of The Will
• We Flash Across The Level
• We Shall Surely Die
• We’ll go No More A-Roving
• What Have I Done For You
• What Is To Come
• When The Wind Storms By With A Shout
• When You Are Old
• When You Wake In Your Crib
• Where Forlorn Sunsets Flare And Fade
• While The West Is Paling
• Why, My Heart, Do We Love Her So?
• You Played And Sang A Snatch Of Song
• Your Heart Has Trembled To My Tongue