Poetry Codex

Victorian

John Davidson

1857–1909

John Davidson (1857–1909) was a Scottish poet, playwright and novelist, born in Barrhead, Renfrewshire. He came to London in the 1890s and made his name with Fleet Street Eclogues and the Ballads and Songs of 1894.

His verse ranges from vigorous ballads of city life to the Testaments of his later years. He took his own life in 1909. Untermeyer's Modern British Poetry (1920) printed his long Ballad of Hell, given here.

Poems (92)

  1. A Ballad of Hell
  2. A Loafer
  3. In Romney Marsh
  4. Song
  5. Holiday
  6. The Merchantman
  7. A Runnable Stag
  8. New Year's Day
  9. St. Valentine's Eve
  10. Good Friday
  11. St. Swithin's Day
  12. Michaelmas
  13. Queen Elizabeth's Day
  14. Christmas Eve
  15. All Hallow's Eve
  16. Lammas
  17. Midsummer Day
  18. May-Day
  19. St. George's Day
  20. To My Friend
  21. To My Enemy
  22. To the New Women
  23. To the New Men
  24. A Ballad in Blank Verse of the Making of a Poet
  25. A Ballad of the Exodus from Houndsditch
  26. A Ballad of a Nun
  27. The Vengeance of the Duchess
  28. A Ballad of Heaven
  29. Thirty Bob a Week
  30. To the Street-Piano: I. A Labourer's Wife
  31. To the Street-Piano: II. After the End
  32. Song of a Train
  33. A Cinque Port
  34. Spring
  35. Summer
  36. Autumn
  37. Winter
  38. The Happiest Way
  39. For Hesper Joyce Le Gallienne
  40. In Memoriam Mildred Le Gallienne
  41. Song: Some said, 'He was strong.' He was weak
  42. A Ballad of an Artist's Wife
  43. Spring Song
  44. A Northern Suburb
  45. A Woman and Her Son
  46. A Song of the Road
  47. A Highway Pimpernel
  48. A Ballad of Euthanasia
  49. Sunset
  50. Winter Rain
  51. A Ballad of a Poet Born
  52. Serenade
  53. A Frosty Morning
  54. A Ballad of a Workman
  55. Piper, Play!
  56. A New Ballad of Tannhauser
  57. Song: His heart was worn and sore
  58. The Last Ballad
  59. The Ordeal
  60. A Ballad of a Coward
  61. Coming
  62. Battle
  63. The Hymn of Abdul Hamid
  64. War-Song
  65. The Badge of Men
  66. The Unresigned Mourner
  67. The Gift
  68. Earth to Earth
  69. My Lily
  70. Prince of the Fairies
  71. The Stoop of Rhenish
  72. Matinées: I
  73. Matinées: II
  74. Holiday at Hampton Court
  75. In the Isle of Dogs
  76. Afternoon
  77. Insomnia
  78. The Last Rose
  79. Summer Rain
  80. The Price
  81. The Unknown
  82. Waiting
  83. The Aristocrat
  84. The Outcast
  85. The Pioneer
  86. The Hero
  87. Eclogues II: The Fool
  88. Eclogues III: Artist and Votary
  89. London
  90. Butterflies
  91. Song: Closes and courts and lanes
  92. St. Michael's Mount

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