Poetry: Homer – The Odyssey

"...he wept as he held the wife he loved, the soul of loyalty, in his arms at last."

Poetry: Frost – A Patch of Old Snow

"The news of a day I've forgotten -- If I ever read it." -Robert Frost "A Patch of Old Snow

Poetry: Beowulf

“Do you want me to read it?” Before me sat half a dozen middle schoolers, watching with that wide-eyed curiosity and amazement that I know will be hidden in only a few short years. They watched and giggled and nodded their heads, some of them even cheering me on. They had already heard me read …

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Poetry: Wheatley – On Being Brought from Africa to America

’Twas mercy brought me from my Pagan land,Taught my benighted soul to understandThat there’s a God, that there’s a Saviour too:Once I redemption neither sought nor knew.Some view our sable race with scornful eye,‘Their colour is a diabolic die.’Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,May be refin’d, and join th’ angelic train.Phillis Wheatley, On Being Brought from Africa to America I first heard …

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Poetry: Rossetti – In the Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moan;Earth stood hard as iron,Water like a stone;Snow had fallen, snow on snow,Snow on snow,In the bleak mid-winterLong ago. I know very few poems by Christina Rossetti, but her winter and Christmas poems and songs have found a special place in my heart, and this one more than most. …

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