Selected Poems

Table Of Contents

Selected PoemsIntroduction
Bibliography
Suggestions for Further Reading
From Oak and Ivy (1893)
A Banjo Song
A Career
Columbian Ode
James Whitcomb Riley
Life
Lullaby
Melancholia
My Sort o’ Man
Ode to Ethiopia
Sympathy
The Ol’ Tunes
The Seedling

From Majors and Minors (1895)
After the Quarrel
Alice
Ballad
By the Stream
The Change Has Come
Changing Time
The Colored Soldiers
A Corn-Song
Dawn
Dirge
Disappointed
Ere Sleep Comes Down to Soother the Weary Eyes
Frederick Douglass
A Frolic
He Had His Dream
Hymn
Invitation to Love
Ione
The Master-Player
Ode for Memorial Day
One Life
The Poet and His Song
A Prayer
Retort
Ships that Pass in the Night
A Summer’s Night
We Wear the Mask
To Pfrimmer

From Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896)
Accountability
An Ante-Bellum Sermon
The Corn-Stalk Fiddle
The Lawyers’ Ways
Religion
After a Visit
The Spellin’-Bee
Keep A-Pluggin’ away
An Easy-Goin’ Feller
The Wooing
When de Co’n Pone’s Hot
Discovered
The Delinquent
A Confidence
The Party

From Poems of Cabin and Field (1899)
The Deserted Plantation
Little Brown Baby
Christmas Is A-Comin’

From Lyrics of the Hearthside (1899)
Love’s Apotheosis
The Paradox
The Right to Die
Behind the Arras
A Hymn
Dream Song I
Dream Song II
The King Is Dead
Theology
Resignation
Thou Art My Lute
The Phantom Kiss
The Crisis
Alexander Crummell Dead
Sonnet
Misapprehension
For the Man Who Fails
Harriet Beecher Stowe
The Warrior’s Prayer
The Voice of the Banjo
A Choice
The Real Question
Jilted
Chrismus on the Plantation
Foolin’ wid de Seasons
A Death Song
Jealous
Parted
A Letter
At Candle-Lightin’ Time
How Lucy Backslid
Protest

From When Malindy Sings (1903)
When Malindy Sings
The Colored Band
In Memory of Martha
The Tryst
The Boogah Man
Noddin’ by de Fire
My Sweet Brown Gal
In the Morning
The Plantation Child’s Lullaby
Curiosity
Opportunity
Puttin’ the Baby Away
Faith
The Fisher Child’s Lullaby

From Lyrics of Love and Laughter (1903)
Joggin’ Erlong
In May
Dreams
The Dove
The Valse
Song
Inspiration
When Dey ‘Listed Colored Soldiers
Lincoln
To a Captious Critic
The Poet
A Spiritual
W’en I Gits Home
The Unsung Heroes
The Pool
Speakin’ at de Cou’t House
Black Samson of Brandywine
Douglass
Booker T. Washington
Philosophy
The Debt
By Rugged Ways
To the South
The Haunted Oak
Weltschmertz
Robert Gould Shaw
A Love Song
A Negro Love Song
The Fount of Tears
At the Tavern

From Li’l’ Gal (1904)
Li’l’ Gal
A Plea
Soliloquy of a Turkey
When Sam’l Sings

From Lyrics of Sunshine and Shadow (1905)
A Boy’s Summer Song
The Sand-Man
Johnny Speaks
Scamp
A Christmas Folksong
The Farm Child’s Lullaby
Hope
The Awakening
A Musical
Twell de Night Is Pas’
Compensation
Anchored
Yesterday and To-morrow
At Sunset Time
At Loafing-Holt
When a Feller’s Itchin’ to Be Spanked
A Love Letter
Trouble in de Kitchen
The Quilting
Forever
Parted
Christmas

From Howdy, Howdy, Howdy (1905)
“Howdy, Howdy, Howdy!”
Encouragement
Twilight

From Joggin’ Erlong (1906)
The Capture

Uncollected Poems
Emancipation
Welcome Address
Comrade
Love Is a Star
The Making Up
A Toast to Dayton
Sold a C.H.S. Episode
After the Struggle
The Builder
Lullaby (II)

Index of Titles
Index of First Lines