I Wish I Loved the Human Race Sir Walter A Raleigh (1861-1922) I wish I loved the Human Race; I wish

I loved its silly face; I wish I liked the way it walks; I wish I liked the way it talks; And when I'm introduced to one, I wish I thought "What Jolly Fun!" Monday's Child Monday's child is fair of face, Tuesday's child is full of grace, Wednesday's child is full of woe, Thursday's child has far to go, Friday's child is loving and giving, Saturday's child works hard for its living, And a child that's born on the Sabbath day Is fair and wise and good and gay. The Walrus and the Carpenter Lewis Carroll The sun was shining on the sea, Shining with all his might: He did his very best to make The billows smooth and bright And this was odd, because it was The middle of the night. The moon was shining sulkily, Because she thought the sun Had got no business to be there After the day was done "It's very rude of him," she said, "To come and spoil the fun." The sea was wet as wet could be, The sands were dry as dry. You could not see a cloud, because

No cloud was in the sky: No birds were flying overhead There were no birds to fly. The Walrus and the Carpenter Were walking close at hand; They wept like anything to see Such quantities of sand: "If this were only cleared away," They said, "it would be grand." "If seven maids with seven mops Swept it for half a year, Do you suppose", the Walrus said, "That they could get it clear?" "I doubt it," said the Carpenter, And shed a bitter tear. "O Oysters, come and walk with us!" The Walrus did beseech. "A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk, Along the briny beach: We cannot do with more than four, To give a hand to each." The eldest Oyster looked at him, But never a word he said: The eldest Oyster winked his eye, And shook his heavy head Meaning to say he did not choose To leave the oyster-bed. But four young Oysters hurried up, All eager for the treat: Their coats were brushed, their faces washed, Their shoes were clean and neat And this was odd, because, you know, They hadn't any feet. Four other Oysters followed them, And yet another four; And thick and fast they came at last, And more, and more, and more All hopping through the frothy waves, And scrambling to the shore. The Walrus and the Carpenter Walked on a mile or so, And then they rested on a rock Conveniently low: And all the little Oysters stood And waited in a row.

"The time has come", the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes -and ships -and sealing wax Of cabbages -and kings And why the sea is boiling hot And whether pigs have wings." "But wait a bit," the Oysters cried, "Before we have our chat; For some of us are out of breath, And all of us are fat!" "No hurry!" said the Carpenter. They thanked him much for that. "A loaf of bread", the Walrus said, "Is what we chiefly need: Pepper and vinegar, besides, Are very good indeed Now, if you're ready, Oysters dear, We can begin to feed." "But not on us!" the Oysters cried, Turning a little blue. "After such kindness, that would be A dismal thing to do!" "The night is fine," the Walrus said, "Do you admire the view? "It was so kind of you to come! And you are very nice!" The Carpenter said nothing but "Cut us another slice. I wish you were not quite so deaf I've had to ask you twice!" "It seems a shame", the Walrus said, "To play them such a trick. After we've brought them out so far, And made them trot so quick!" The Carpenter said nothing but "The butter's spread too thick!" "I weep for you," the Walrus said: "I deeply sympathize." With sobs and tears he sorted out Those of the largest size, Holding his pocket-handkerchief Before his streaming eyes. "O Oysters," said the Carpenter, "You've had a pleasant run! Shall we be trotting home again?" But answer came there none -

And this was scarcely odd, because They'd eaten every one. The Grasshopper Aesop A grasshopper spent the summer hopping about in the sun and singing to his heart's content. One day, an ant went hurrying by, looking very hot and weary. "Why are you working on such a lovely day?" said the grasshopper. "I'm collecting food for the winter," said the ant, "and I suggest you do the same." And off she went, helping the other ants to carry food to their store. The grasshopper carried on hopping and singing. When winter came the ground was covered with snow. The grasshopper had no food and was hungry. So he went to the ants and asked for food. "What did you do all summer when we were working to collect our food?" said one of the ants. "I was busy hopping and singing," said the grasshopper. "Well," said the ant, "if you hop and sing all summer, and do no work, then you must starve in the winter." The Hare and the Hound Aesop A Hound chased a Hare from his lair, but after a long run, the Hound stopped chasing. A goat-herd who was watching laughed at the Hound and said: "The little Hare is the better runner of you two!" The Hound replied: "But you do not see the difference between us: I was only running for a dinner; he was running for his life."

Elementary

Intermediate

American Declaration of Independence

(first published 4 July 1776)

hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
hold (verb): to believe; to consider truth (noun): something that is true self-evident (adjective): evident, clear, obvious without need of proof created (pp of to create): made; fabricated; constructed endowed (pp of to endow): given; provided creator (noun): maker; a person who makes or creates Creator (noun): God unalienable (adjective): untransferrable; cannot be given to another person right (noun): a power or privilege that a person has by law or tradition liberty (noun): freedom pursuit (noun): act of pursuing from pursue (verb): to follow; to chase

Away in a Manger
(Christmas Carol)

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus laid down his sweet head. The stars in the bright sky looked down where he lay, The little Lord Jesus asleep in the hay. The cattle are lowing, the baby awakes, But little Lord Jesus no crying he makes. I love Thee, Lord Jesus, look down from the sky And stay by my cradle 'til morning is nigh. Be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask Thee to stay Close by me forever, and love me, I pray. Bless all the dear children in thy tender care,

And take us to heaven, to live with Thee there.

manger (noun): a box for food for horses or cows crib (noun): cot; small bed for a baby hay (noun): dry grass for animals to eat cattle (noun): cows low (verb): to moo; to make the noise of a cow awake (awoke, awoken) (verb): to wake up; to waken; to wake up; to stop sleeping cradle (noun): cot; small bed for a baby 'til (preposition): until; till; up to that time nigh (adjective): near; close; imminent; not far thee (pronoun): you (old English)

For now we see through a glass, darkly

First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians (Bible, 1 Corinthians 13, verse 11)

When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
spake (verb): spoke (old English - verb 'to speak')

Futility
Wilfred Owen

Move him into the sun Gently its touch awoke him once, At home, whispering of fields unsown. Always it woke him, even in France, Until this morning and this snow. If anything might rouse him now

The kind old sun will know. Think how it wakes the seeds, Woke, once, the clays of a cold star. Are limbs, so dear-achieved, are sides, Full-nerved,- still warm,- too hard to stir? Was it for this the clay grew tall? - O what made fatuous sunbeams toil To break earth's sleep at all?
awake (awoke, awoken) (verb): to wake up; to waken; to wake up; to stop sleeping unsown (adjective): without seed; not planted (NB: "fields unsown" = "unsown fields") rouse (verb): to wake up; to stimulate; to animate clay (noun): type of earth; earth; soil limb (noun): member of the body (leg, arm) dear-achieved (adjective): costly to create stir (verb): to move; to waken fatuous (adjective): purposeless toil (verb): to work hard; to labour Commentary

If
Rudyard Kipling

IF you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you, If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: IF you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools: IF you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breathe a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: `Hold on!' IF you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
keep your head (verb): to stay calm; to remain cool make allowance for (verb): to take into account impostor (noun): person who pretends to be someone else; charlatan; fraud; phony knave (noun): con man; cheat; trickster stoop (verb): to bend down; to bow; to incline; to crouch build 'em up (informal contraction): build them up worn-out (adjective): used; completely exhausted; useless pitch-and-toss (noun): game in which players throw coins sinew (noun): tough, fibrous tissue joining muscle to bone hold on (verb): to continue; to persist foe (noun): enemy count with you (verb): to matter to you; to be important to you

I shall not pass this way again

Grellet

I expect to pass through this world but once; any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellowcreature, let me do it now; let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
fellow (noun): brother; equal; colleague creature (noun): animal; living thing defer(verb): to delay; to suspend neglect (verb): to ignore; to forget; to overlook; to take no notice of

Advanced

Desiderata

GO placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with other, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the

face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
Consider the lilies of the field
Bible (New Testament: Matthew chapter 26 verse 28 >)

And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of

the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore, take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things . . . Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

The Sick Rose

William Blake

O Rose, thou art sick! The invisible worm,

That flies in the night, In the howling storm, Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy; And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.
Song of Solomon
Song of Solomon Chapter IV, Bible (Old Testament)

Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead. Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.

Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pome-granate within thy locks. Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies. Until the day break, and the shadows flee away, I will get me to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense. Thou art all fair, my love; there is no spot in thee.

The Tiger
William Blake

Tiger! Tiger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? and what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tiger! Tiger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
frame (verb): to make; to create thy (adjective): your (old English) symmetry (noun): balance; harmony deeps (noun): seas thine (pronoun): your (old English) aspire (verb): have ambition or strong desire dread (adjective): awe-inspiring; revered anvil (noun): flat block for working metal Lamb (noun): young sheep (but why a capital "L"?)

Shakespeare

Sonnet 27
William Shakespeare

Weary with toil I haste me to my bed, The dear repose for limbs with travel tired; But then begins a journey in my head To work my mind when body's work's expired; For then my thoughts, from far where I abide, Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee, And keep my drooping eyelids open wide, Looking on darkness which the blind do see; Save that my soul's imaginary sight Presents thy shadow to my sightless view, Which like a jewel hung in ghastly night Makes black night beauteous and her old face new. Lo, thus by day my limbs, by night my mind, For thee and for myself no quiet find.

I had rather be a toad

William Shakespeare

O curse of marriage! That we can call these delicate creatures ours, And not their appetites! I had rather be a toad And live upon the vapour of a dungeon Than keep a corner in the thing I love For others' uses.
Spoken by Othello in the play Othello

What a piece of work is a man!

William Shakespeare

What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! in form, in moving, how express and admirable! in action how like an angel!

in apprehension how like a god! the beauty of the world! the paragon of animals! And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust? man delights not me; no, nor woman neither, though, by your smiling, you seem to say so.
Sonnet 2
William Shakespeare

When forty winters shall besiege thy brow, And dig deep trenches in thy beauty's field, Thy youth's proud livery, so gazed on now, Will be a tattered weed of small worth held. Then being asked where all thy beauty lies, Where all the treasure of thy lusty days, To say within thine own deep-sunken eyes Were an all-eating shame and thriftless praise. How much more praise deserved thy beauty's use If thou couldst answer 'This fair child of

mine Shall sum my count, and make my old excuse', Proving his beauty by succession thine. This were to be new made when thou art old, And see thy blood warm when thou feel'st it cold.
Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare

SHALL I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer's lease hath all too short a date: Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; And every fair from fair sometimes declines, By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; But thy eternal summer shall not fade

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st. So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
thee (pronoun): you (old English) thou (pronoun): you (old English) art (verb): are (old English - verb 'to be') temperate (adjective): mild; pleasant; warm do shake: note use of auxiliary 'do' in present simple positive. This is unusual but perfectly normal for stress, politeness or poetic effect. bud (noun): first growth on a plant or flower lease (noun): period, time, duration hath (verb): has (old English - verb 'to have') eye of heaven: Shakespeare is referring to the sun complexion (noun): colour; appearance fair (adjective): attractive; beautiful; handsome; lovely decline (verb): to become less; to decrease thy (adjective): your (old English) eternal (adjective): endless; everlasting; infinite; permanent fade (verb): to decrease; to decline; to dissolve brag (verb): to boast; to tell everybody triumphantly wand'rest (verb): old English - verb 'to wander': to walk without direction; to roam shade (noun): shadow; darkness; gloom; obscurity growst (verb): old English - verb 'to grow' so long: as long