Poetry For Verse Speaking Choir ARRANGED BY .. Helen D. Williams Reproduced by Charley Blackmore (June 11, 2002) With Permission & Best Wishes from Helen D's daughter, Emily Peirce Download The Original 1963 Version as a pdf for printing This is a large file and will take some time to download. "Continue"                                                 CONTENTS I INTRODUCTION II AMERICA  1-16 III CHILDREN 17-27 IV DEATH 28-33 V EDUCATION 34-39 VI LOVE 40-44 VII RELIGIOUS 45-50 VIII UNDERSTANDING 51-63 IX WAR 64-66 X RHYTHM, HUMOR & INSPIRATION 67-91                     LordChesterfield'sAdvicetoHisSon         Your figure is a good one.  You have no natural defects in the organs of your speech.  Your address may be engaging and your manner of speaking graceful, if you will.  So, that if they are not so, neither I, nor the world, can attribute it to anything but your lack of parts.  Words were given us to communicate our ideas by, and there must be something incon- ceivably absurd in uttering them in such a manner that people cannot understand them, or will not desire to understand them. *******         Lew Sarett                 "A poem is a monuement to a moment of insight." ******         Babette Deutsch                 "Poetry is the fiery index to the genius of the age."     Quotations from Babette Deutsch in "This Modern Poetry" (1)    Contemporary verse is not greater than the verse of the past Each has its own peculiar virtues and special beauties.  Modern verse, while it may not be better than the old, is better for us because it iterprets in a living language, a living world, and from that vantage point looks into the dark abyss of the uncreated. (2) Science and Poetry Science seeks to improve the conditions of living.  Poetry Which speaks to the quickest understanding with the authority of the deepest self, is still, as it always has been, the delight of heroic minds.              The scientist erects hypotheses which enable man to weigh and measure the physical universe and to abstract laws which will prosper him in his conflicts with hisenviron- ment, his fellows and himself.              Poetry communicats the emotions of these men in these Conflicts and in their resolution.  It is, however, no less than science purposive, practical and precise.              The purpose of science is to reduce the evils of life and to develop the goods it offers.  The purpose of the poet is to give quality to living, and so to help man to realize the world both inner and outer, more fully. (3)  The effect of poetry on an audience Only indirectly, only gradually, can a great poem work on a growing audience to create new ways of felling and changed modes of behavior.  But without effecting any change it still pleases by its intrinsic felicity.  It is like the sun whose quickening powers are no less active because they may be ignored by the man whose body it warms and whose eye it kindles. (4)  Poetry is the stimulus to the good life;  it is an element of the good life. (5)  Poetry is rooted in emotion, fed upon fact and shaped by imagination. (6)  Poetry seeks a hold upon reality, and the closeness of its approach is the test of its success.  It has its roots in our savage past and so speaks to the oldest instincts of man.  But also it communicates the experience of those whose imaginative faculty makes them the sensitive antennae of the race. Robert P. T. Coffin:--The speaking of poetry existed thousands of years before there was a written word.  It is said that the old kings realized its importance--that a king would rather give up his salt than go without his gleemen.         Poetry is not the caviar of loives at the feast of life. It is the solid center--the heart, the bread, the meat at the banquet of life.     ALPHA - INDEX  Page                  Title                                      Author       2       Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865            Stephen V. Benet     17       Adventures Of Isabel                          Ogden Nash       1       America                                               Carl Sandburg       1       America For Me                                 Henry Van Dyke     34       America Was Schoolmasters             R. P. Tristram Coffin     67       Apoloygy For Husbands                     Phyllis McGinley     53       As I Grow Older                                 Lagston Hughes       3       Ballad Of The Lord And Columbus     41       Bonny Cravat (The)                           Anonymous     68       Bootless Speculations     25       Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus (The)  Ogden Nash     54       Caliban In The Coal Mines                Louis Untermeyer     45       Carol                                                     Stephen V. Benet     64       Christmas Silhouette (A)                    John E. Caughman     69       Clean Hands                                         Carl Sandburg     70       Congo (The)                                          Vachel Lindsay     48      Creation (The)                                      James W. Johnson     73       Cremation Of Sam McGee (The)       Robert Service     30       Death Snips Proud Men                      Carl Sandburg     29       Deep Wet Moss                                     Lew Sarett     40       Dilemma                                                John V. A. Weaver     64       Does It Matter?                                     Sassoon     54       Emptys Coming Back                           Angelo De Ponciano     34       Every Son Must Rise Above His Father  R. P. Tristram Coffin     24       First Christmas Tree (The)                  R. P. Tristram Coffin     17       Forgiven                                                 A. A. Milne     18       Four Foot Orators                                R. P. Tristram Coffin       6       Freedom                                                 Carl Sandburg     62       From Renascence                                  Edna St. Vincent Millay     19       Georgha Da Wash                                 Richard H. Little     13       Gift Outright (The)                               Robert Frost     70       Great Proud Wagon Wheels Go On (The)  Carl Sandburg     28       Go Down, Death                                    James W. Johnson     65       Grass                                                      Carl Sandburg     55       Hiamovi                                                 Carl Sandburg     65       High Flight                                            John G. Magee     35       Hold It Up To The Light     30       I Believe...                                              Don Blanding     76       Jesse James                                            W. R. Benet     33       Junk Man (The)                                    Carl Sandburg     66       Killers                                                     Carl Sandburg     31       Lament                                                   Edna Millay     36       Lament Of The Normal Child             Phyllis McGinley     55       Leaden-Eyed (The)                               Vachel Lindsay     32       Let Me Go Down To Dust                    Lew Sarett       6       Lines Written in 1957                           Carl Sandburg     37       Little Red School                                   R. P. Tristram Coffin     79       Lucy Lake                                               Ogden Nash     38       Man Will Never Write                          Carl Sandburg       6       Mississippi River                                   Stephen V. Benet     79       More Rain, More Rest                          Nancy Byrd Turner     80       Mountain Whippoorwill (The)            Stephen V. Benet     83       Mourning's At Eight-Thirty                Phyllis McGinley       8       Mr. Longfellow And His Boy     10       Nancy Hanks                                          Rosemary & S. V. Benet     40       Negro Love Song (A)                             Paul L. Dunbar     20       New Drum                                              R. P. Tristram Coffin     51       No One Asked (And)                             Morris Reich     62       Old Flagman (The)                               Carl Sandburg     11       Open Letter To The Poet A. MacLeish   Carl Sandburg     12       Osawatomie                                           Carl Sandburg     56       Peeled Zero                                            Don Blanding     87       Pershing At The Front                         Arthur Guiterman     57       Pilot Bails Out                                       Don Blanding     50       Poem Heard Round The World (The) Author Unknown     84       Poem In Praise Of The Continetal Congress  Phyllis McGinley     85       Poem From A Private  Room              Phyllis McGinley     58       Private Willie's Birthday Party           Don Blanding     31       Readings On The Philosophy Of Death     61       Rebel And Rover                                   Lew Sarett     88       Reflections At Dawn                             Phyllis McGinley     33       Requiem For A Modern Croesus        Lew Sarett     89       Simon Legree                                        Vachel Lindsay     46       Special Starlight                                   Carl Sandburg     91       Squaw Dance (The)                              Lew Sarett     47       Star Of My Heart                                 Vachel Lindsay     90       St. Catherine                                        Anonymous     21       Tale Of Custard The Dragon (The)    Ogden Nash     38       Teacher (The)                                       Leslie P. Hill     47       They Ask:  Is God, Too, Lonely?         Carl Sandburg     13       Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826              Stephen V. Benet     25       Tragedy                                                  Jill Spargur     91       Tumbling Mustard                               Malcolm Cowley     70       Upstream                                               Carl Sandburg     22       Us Two                                                   A. A. Milne     43       Usual Way (The)                                   Frederick E. Weatherly     23       Vespers                                                   A. A. Milne     63       Washerwoman                                      Carl Sandburg     15       Washington Monument By Night       Carl Sandburg     42      White Magnolia Tree (The)     16       Wilbur Wright And Orville Wright   Rosemary & S. V. Benet     50       Wind In The Pine                                 Lew Sarett     PAGE - INDEX Page                  Title                                      Author       1       America                                                 Carl Sandburg       1       America For Me                                   Henry Van Dyke       2       Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865              Stephen V. Benet       3       Ballad Of The Lord And Columbus       6       Freedom                                                 Carl Sandburg       6       Lines Written in 1957                           Carl Sandburg       6       Mississippi River                                   Stephen V. Benet       8       Mr. Longfellow And His Boy     10       Nancy Hanks                                          Rosemary & S. V. Benet     11       Open Letter To The Poet A. MacLeish   Carl Sandburg     12       Osawatomie                                           Carl Sandburg     13       Gift Outright (The)                               Robert Frost     13       Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826              Stephen V. Benet     15       Washington Monument By Night       Carl Sandburg     16       Wilbur Wright And Orville Wright   Rosemary & S. V. Benet     17       Adventures Of Isabel                          Ogden Nash     17       Forgiven                                                 A. A. Milne     18       Four Foot Orators                                R. P. Tristram Coffin     19       Georgha Da Wash                                 Richard H. Little     20       New Drum                                              R. P. Tristram Coffin     21       Tale Of Custard The Dragon (The)    Ogden Nash     22       Us Two                                                   A. A. Milne     23       Vespers                                                   A. A. Milne     24       First Christmas Tree (The)                  R. P. Tristram Coffin     25       Boy Who Laughed At Santa Claus (The)  Ogden Nash     25       Tragedy                                                  Jill Spargur     28       Go Down, Death                                    James W. Johnson     29       Deep Wet Moss                                     Lew Sarett     30       Death Snips Proud Men                      Carl Sandburg     30       I Believe...                                              Don Blanding     31       Lament                                                   Edna Millay     31       Readings On The Philosophy Of Death     32       Let Me Go Down To Dust                    Lew Sarett     33       Junk Man (The)                                    Carl Sandburg     33       Requiem For A Modern Croesus        Lew Sarett     34       America Was Schoolmasters              R. P. Tristram Coffin     34       Every Son Must Rise Above His Father  R. P. Tristram Coffin     35       Hold It Up To The Light     36       Lament Of The Normal Child             Phyllis McGinley     37       Little Red School                                   R. P. Tristram Coffin     38       Man Will Never Write                          Carl Sandburg     38       Teacher (The)                                       Leslie P. Hill     40       Dilemma                                                John V. A. Weaver     40       Negro Love Song (A)                             Paul L. Dunbar     41       Bonny Cravat (The)                             Anonymous     42       White Magnolia Tree (The)     43       Usual Way (The)                                   Frederick E. Weatherly     45       Carol                                                      Stephen V. Benet     46       Special Starlight                                   Carl Sandburg     47       Star Of My Heart                                 Vachel Lindsay     47       They Ask:  Is God, Too, Lonely?         Carl Sandburg     48       Creation (The)                                      James W. Johnson     50       Poem Heard Round The World (The) Author Unknown     50       Wind In The Pine                                 Lew Sarett     51       No One Asked (And)                            Morris Reich     53       As I Grow Older                                   Lagston Hughes     54       Caliban In The Coal Mines                 Louis Untermeyer     54       Emptys Coming Back                           Angelo De Ponciano     55       Hiamovi                                                 Carl Sandburg     55       Leaden-Eyed (The)                               Vachel Lindsay     56       Peeled Zero                                            Don Blanding     57      Pilot Bails Out                                       Don Blanding     58       Private Willie's Birthday Party           Don Blanding     61      Rebel And Rover                                   Lew Sarett     62       From Renascence                                  Edna St. Vincent Millay     62       Old Flagman (The)                               Carl Sandburg     63       Washerwoman                                      Carl Sandburg     64       Christmas Silhouette (A)                     John E. Caughman     64       Does It Matter?                                     Sassoon     65       Grass                                                      Carl Sandburg     65       High Flight                                            John G. Magee     66       Killers                                                     Carl Sandburg     67       Apoloygy For Husbands                       Phyllis McGinley     68       Bootless Speculations     69       Clean Hands                                          Carl Sandburg     70      Congo (The)                                          Vachel Lindsay     70       Great Proud Wagon Wheels Go On (The)  Carl Sandburg     70       Upstream                                               Carl Sandburg     73       Cremation Of Sam McGee (The)        Robert Service     76       Jesse James                                            W. R. Benet     79       Lucy Lake                                               Ogden Nash     79       More Rain, More Rest                          Nancy Byrd Turner     80       Mountain Whippoorwill (The)            Stephen V. Benet     83       Mourning's At Eight-Thirty                Phyllis McGinley     84       Poem In Praise Of The Continetal Congress  Phyllis McGinley     85       Poem From A Private  Room              Phyllis McGinley     87       Pershing At The Front                         Arthur Guiterman     88       Reflections At Dawn                             Phyllis McGinley     89       Simon Legree                                        Vachel Lindsay     90       St. Catherine                                         Anonymous     91       Squaw Dance (The)                              Lew Sarett     91       Tumbling Mustard                               Malcolm Cowley