Alfred Austin, The Poetry

By Alfred Austin

Born in Headingly, Yorkshire in 1835 Austin went on to graduate from the University of London in 1853. Training to be a barrister was a success but his love was literature and he turned to this full time as a novelist, playwright and poet. After several false starts he published as a poet in 1861, which was received with a measure of success. In 1870 he wrote a book ‘Poetry Of The Period; which managed to criticise the great Victorian poets of Tennyson, Arnold, Swinburne and Browning without an undue measure of negativity. He continued to write poetry with great effect to a larger and admiring audience. With the death of Tennyson in 1892 a number of candidates were looked at for the post of Poet Laureate. Finally in 1896 after it was rejected by William Morris the post was Austin’s. His work was entwined with his love of Nature and he is a fine example of this Imperial age. His poems have a softness, texture and comfort that is deeply rewarding. Many of these titles are on our audiobook version which can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Copyright Group
• Release date: Sep 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781780005522

Book preview

Alfred Austin, The Poetry

Poetry is a fascinating use of language.  With almost a million words at its command it is not surprising that these Isles have produced some of the most beautiful, moving and descriptive verse through the centuries.  In this series we look at individual poets who have shaped and influenced their craft and cement their place in our heritage.

In this volume we look at the works of the Victorian Poet Laureate, Alfred Austin.

Born in Headingly, Yorkshire in 1835 Austin went on to graduate from the University of London in 1853.  Training to be a barrister was a success but his love was literature and he turned to this full time as a novelist, playwright and poet.  After several false starts he published as a poet in 1861, it arrived with a measure of success.  In 1870 he wrote a book ‘Poetry Of The Period; which managed to criticise the great Victorian poets of Tennyson, Arnold, Swinburne and Browning without an undue measure of negativity.

With the death of Tennyson in 1892 a number of candidates were looked at for the post of Poet Laureate.   Finally in 1896 after it was rejected by William Morris the post was Austin’s.

His work was entwined with his love of Nature and he is a fine example of this Imperial age. His poems have a softness, texture and comfort that is deeply rewarding.

Alfred Austin died in 1913

Many of the poems are also available as an audiobook from our sister company Portable Poetry.  Many samples are at our youtube channel   http://www.youtube.com/user/PortablePoetry?feature=mhee The full volume can be purchased from iTunes, Amazon and other digital stores.  Among our readers are Richard Mitchley and Ghizela Rowe

Index Of Poems

To England

Songs From Lucifer

Agatha

Song, A March Minstrel

An April Fool

An April Love

A Night In June 

Give A November Note

Give Me October's Meditative Haze

December Matins

A Border Burn

A Captive Throstle

A Farewell To Youth

A Rare Guest

A Reply To A Pessimist

A Sleepless Night

A Voice From The West

A Wild Rose

At Her Grave

By The Fates

Celestial Heights

Free

Forgiveness

Gleaners Of Fame

How Florence Rings Her Bells

In Praise Of England

In Sutton Woods

Inflexible As Fate

Love’s Harvest

Love’s Unity

My Winter Rose

Primacy Of Mind

Resignation

Since We Must Die

Sorrow’s Importunity

Spartan Mothers

Spiritual Love

The Evening Light

The Mountains

The Passing Of The Century

The Silent Muse

Though All The World

Time’s Weariness

Too Late

Unseasonable Snows

Wardens Of The Wave

When Acorns Fall

When I Am Gone

Winter Violets

To England

Now upon English soil I soon shall stand,

Homeward from climes that fancy deems more fair;

And well I know that there will greet me there

No soft foam fawning upon smiling strand,

No scent of orange-groves, no zephyrs bland;

But Amazonian March, with breast half bare

And sleety arrows whistling through the air,

Will be my welcome from that burly land.

Yet he who boasts his birth-place yonder lies

Owns in his heart a mood akin to scorn

For sensuous slopes that bask 'neath Southern skies,

Teeming with wine and prodigal of corn,

And, gazing through the mist with misty eyes,

Blesses the brave bleak land where he was born.

Songs From Lucifer

White little hands!

Pink little feet!

Dimpled all over,

Sweet, sweet, sweet!

What dost thou wail for?

The unknown? the unseen?

The ills that are coming,

The joys that have been?

Cling to me closer,

Closer and closer,

Till the pain that is purer

Hath banish’d the grosser.

Drain, drain at the stream, love,

Thy hunger is freeing,

That was born in a dream, love,

Along with thy being!

Little fingers that feel

For their home on my breast,

Little lips that appeal

For their nurture, their rest!

Why, why dost thou weep, dear?

Nay, stifle thy cries,

Till the dew of thy sleep, dear,

Lies soft on thine eyes.

Agatha

She wanders in the April woods, 

That glisten with the fallen shower; 

She leans her face against the buds, 

She stops, she stoops, she plucks a flower. 

She feels the ferment of the hour: 

She broodeth when the