Amy Levy Poems

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Amy Levy
Amy Levy (1861 – 1889) was a British poet and novelist. She was born in Clapham, London into a secular Jewish family. She was educated at Brighton High School, and studied at Newnham College, Cambridge; she was the first Jewish student at Newnham, when she arrived in 1879, but left after four terms. Her circle of friends included Clementina Black, Dollie Radford, Eleanor Marx (daughter of Karl Marx), and Olive Schreiner. Levy wrote stories essays and poems for periodicals, Her second novel "Reuben Sachs" (1889) was concerned with Jewish identity and mores in the England of her time (and was consequently controversial); "Reuben Sachs," her first novel "Romance of a Shop," and other writings, including the daring "Ballad of Religion and Marrriage," reveal feminist concerns. Xantippe and Other Verses (1881) includes a poem in the voice of Socrates's wife; the volume "A Minor Poet" has dramatic monologues too as well as lyric poems. Her final book of poems, "A London Plane-Tree" (1889), contains lyrics that are among the first to show the influence of French symbolism. She travelled widely in Europe and was said to have fallen in love with Violet Paget (Vernon Lee), the fiction writer and literary theorist, who was six years older than herself. She had suffered from depression from an early age which, together with her growing deafness, led her to commit suicide at the age of twenty-seven by inhaling carbon monoxide.

the leather bottel
 
 
Now God alone that made all things,
Heaven and earth and all that's in,
The ships that in ... [read poem]
she'll be comin' round the mountain
 
 
She'll be comin' round the mountain,
When she comes.
She'll be comin' round the mounta... [read poem]
his golden locks time hath to silver turn'd
 
 
From POLYHYMNIA

His golden locks time hath to silver turn'd;
O ... [read poem]
the douglas tragedy
 
 
“Rise up, rise up, now, Lord Douglas,” she says,
“And put on your armour so bright;... [read poem]
get up and bar the door
 
 
It fell about the Martinmas time,
And a gay time it was then,
When our goodwife got pudd... [read poem]
for christmas day, hark! the herald angels sing
 
 
Hark! the herald Angels sing,
Glory to the new-born King,
Peace on earth and mercy mild,... [read poem]
thys boke ys on
 
 
Thys boke ys on,
Crystys curs ys anodyr.
He that sstellyth the ton,
I pray Good send hym the todyr.
spende, and gode schal sende
 
 
Spende, and God schal sende.
Spare, and ermor care.
Non peni, non ware.
Non catel, non care.
Go, peni, go!
i have a gentil cook
 
 
I haue a gentil cook,
Crowyt me day.
He doth me rysyn erly,
My matyins for to say... [read poem]
an old maid in the land of aloha
 
 
An old maid in the land of Aloha
Got wrapped in the coils of a boa;
And as the snake ... [read poem]
a book and a jug and a dame
 
 
A book and a jug and a dame,
And a nice cozy nook for the same;
"And I don't care a d... [read poem]
a pansy who lived in khartoum
 
 
A pansy who lived in Khartoum
Took a lesbian up to his room,
And they argued a lot... [read poem]
england
 
 
Oh, England!
Sick in head and sick in heart,
Sick in whole and every part:
And yet si... [read poem]
eternal time, that wastest without waste
 
 
Eternal Time, that wastest without waste,
That art and art not, diest, and livest still;... [read poem]
the fight at montgomery's
 
 
They have met -- that small band, resolved to be free,
As the fierce winds of Heaven that cours... [read poem]
god rest you merry, gentlemen
 
 
God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour... [read poem]
i saw three ships
 
 
I saw three ships come sailing in
On Christmas day, on Christmas day;
I saw three ships ... [read poem]
the laily worm and the mackerel of the sea
 
 
"I was bat seven year alld
Fan my mider she did dee,
My father marr{.e}d the ae warst ... [read poem]
lully, lulley
 
 
Lully, lulley, lully, lulley,
The faucon hath borne my make away.

He bare him up, h... [read poem]
madrigal
 
 
My Loue in her Attyre doth shew her witt,
It doth so well become her:
For eu'ry season... [read poem]
occidit miserum crambe repetita pupillum
 
 
This is the play that Bill wrote --
This is the Dane who was off his head
Who appears in t... [read poem]
st. stephen and herod
 
 
Seynt Stevene was a clerk in Kyng Herowd{.e}s halle,
And servyd him of bred and cloth, as every... [read poem]
tom tyler and his wife
 
 
I am a poor tiler in simple array,
And get a poor living, but eightpence a day,
My wife as... [read poem]
as i was so be yee
 
 
As I was so be yee,
As I am yee shall be:
That I gaue, that I haue,
That I spent, tha... [read poem]
her i was and her i drank
 
 
Her I was and her I drank.
Far wyll dam and mykyll thank!
Her I was and had gud cher,
And her I drank wyll gud ber.
may no man slepe in youre halle
 
 
May no man slepe in youre halle
For dogges,
Madame,
For dogges,
Mada... [read poem]
he that doth wend her
 
 
He that doth wend her,
Let him lend her.
for christmas day in the morning
 
 
The first Nowell the Angel did say
Was to three poor Shepherds in the fields as they lay;
... [read poem]
at liberty i sit and see
 
 
At liberty I sit and see
Them, that have erst laugh'd me to scorn,
Whipp'd with the wh... [read poem]
a sonnet upon the pitiful burning of the globe playhouse in london
 
 
Now sitt thee downe, Melpomene,
Wrapt in a sea-coal robe,
And tell the dolefull tragedie,... [read poem]

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