Poetry Codex

Victorian

E. Nesbit

1858–1924

Edith Nesbit (1858–1924), who published verse as E. Nesbit, is best remembered today as the author of children's classics such as Five Children and It (1902) and The Railway Children (1906). She was a founder member of the Fabian Society.

Her early poems were collected in Lays and Legends (1886; second series 1892). Two of her poems appear in Women Poets of the Victorian Era (1890).

Poems (263)

  1. Pessimism
  2. The Dead Mother
  3. Bridal Ballad
  4. The Ghost
  5. The Modern Judas
  6. The Soul to the Ideal
  7. A Death-Bed
  8. The Lost Soul and the Saved
  9. At the Prison Gate
  10. The Devil's Due
  11. Love in June
  12. The Garden
  13. Prayer under Gray Skies
  14. A Great Industrial Centre
  15. London's Voices
  16. The Sick Journalist
  17. Two Lullabies
  18. Baby Song
  19. Lullaby
  20. An East-End Tragedy
  21. Here and There
  22. Mother
  23. A Ballad of Canterbury
  24. Morning
  25. The Prayer
  26. The River Maidens
  27. On the Medway
  28. The Betrothal
  29. A Tragedy
  30. Love
  31. Love Song
  32. The Quarrel
  33. Change
  34. The Mill
  35. Rondeau
  36. A Mésalliance
  37. The Last Thought
  38. Apollo and the Men of Cymé
  39. At the Private View
  40. A Dirge in Gray
  41. The Woman's World
  42. The Lighthouse
  43. To a Young Poet
  44. The Temptation
  45. The Ballad of Sir Hugh
  46. February
  47. April
  48. June
  49. July
  50. November
  51. Rochester Castle
  52. Ruckinge Church
  53. Rye
  54. The Ballad of the Two Spells
  55. In Memoriam: Philip Bourke Marston
  56. Rondeau: To Austin Dobson
  57. Rondeau: To W. E. Henley
  58. To Walter Sickert
  59. Old Age
  60. To the Queen of England
  61. After Sixty Years
  62. Trafalgar Day
  63. A Song of Trafalgar
  64. Waterloo Day
  65. A Song of Peace and Honour
  66. The Ballad of the White Lady
  67. The Ghost Bereft
  68. The Vain Spell
  69. The Adventurer
  70. In the Enchanted Tower
  71. Faith
  72. The Refusal
  73. Prelude
  74. At the Sound of the Drum
  75. The Goose-Girl
  76. The Pedlar
  77. The Guardian Angel
  78. “Shepherds All and Maidens Fair”
  79. A Portrait
  80. The Offering
  81. Entreaty
  82. The Forest Pool
  83. Discretion
  84. Spring Song
  85. Too Late
  86. By Faith with Thanksgiving
  87. The Appeal
  88. Autumn Song
  89. The Last Act
  90. Faute de Mieux
  91. Song of Long Ago
  92. In Eclipse
  93. Special Pleading
  94. “Love Well the Hour”
  95. Betrayed
  96. The Heart of Sadness
  97. The Heart of Joy
  98. The Heart of Grief
  99. Requiem
  100. Teint Neutre
  101. Out of Hope
  102. Haunted
  103. A Dirge
  104. Evening Song
  105. “This Desirable Mansion”
  106. Ebb-Tide
  107. On the Downs
  108. New College Gardens, Oxford
  109. To a Tulip-Bulb
  110. February
  111. The Promise of Spring
  112. Medway Song
  113. Chains Invisible
  114. At Evening Time There Shall Be Light
  115. Maidenhood
  116. The Monk
  117. The Crown of Life
  118. Magnificat
  119. Evening Prayer
  120. Christmas Hymn
  121. Absolution
  122. The Things That Matter
  123. The Confession
  124. Work
  125. The Jilted Lover to His Mother
  126. The Will to Live
  127. The Beatific Vision
  128. Mummy Wheat
  129. The Beech Tree
  130. In Absence
  131. Silence
  132. Raison d'Etre
  133. The Onlooker
  134. The Tree of Knowledge
  135. At Parting
  136. Song
  137. Renunciation
  138. The Veil of Maya
  139. Song
  140. To Vera, Who Asked a Song
  141. The Poet to His Love
  142. The Maiden's Prayer
  143. Song
  144. The Magic Flower
  145. La Derniere Robe de Soi
  146. The Least Possible
  147. En Tout Cas
  148. Appeal
  149. St. Valentine's Day
  150. Chagrin d'Amour
  151. Bridal Eve
  152. Love and Life
  153. From the Italian
  154. "Out of the Fulness of the Heart the Mouth Speaketh"
  155. Summer Song
  156. The Lower Room
  157. Song
  158. May Song
  159. To Iris
  160. To a Child (Rosamund)
  161. Birthday Talk for a Child (Iris)
  162. To Rosamund
  163. From the Tuscan
  164. Mother Song
  165. The Island
  166. Possession
  167. Accession
  168. The Destroyer
  169. The Egoists
  170. The Way of Love
  171. To One Who Pleaded for Candour in Love
  172. The Enchanted Garden
  173. The Poor Man's Guest
  174. In the Shallows
  175. "And the Rains Descended and the Floods Came"
  176. The Star
  177. The Prodigal Son
  178. Despair
  179. The Temptation
  180. Second Nature
  181. De Profundis
  182. At the Gate
  183. Via Amoris
  184. Retro Sathanas
  185. The Old Dispensation
  186. The New Dispensation
  187. The Three Kings
  188. After Death
  189. Chloe
  190. Invocation
  191. The Last Betrayal
  192. A Prayer for the King's Majesty
  193. True Love and New Love
  194. Death
  195. In Memory of Saretta Deakin
  196. A Parting
  197. The Return
  198. For Dolly: Who Does Not Learn Her Lessons
  199. Questions
  200. The Daisies
  201. The Touchstone
  202. The December Rose
  203. The Fire
  204. Song
  205. A Parting
  206. The Gift of Life
  207. Incompatibilities
  208. The Stolen God: Lazarus to Dives
  209. Winter
  210. Sea-Shells
  211. Hope
  212. The Prodigal’s Return
  213. The Skylark
  214. Saturday Song
  215. The Champion
  216. The Garden Refused
  217. These Little Ones
  218. The Despot
  219. The Magic Ring
  220. Philosophy
  221. The Whirligig of Time
  222. Magic
  223. Windflowers
  224. As It Is
  225. Before Winter
  226. The Vault: After Sedgmoor
  227. Surrender
  228. Values
  229. In the People’s Park
  230. Wedding Day
  231. The Last Defeat
  232. May Day
  233. Gretna Green
  234. The Eternal
  235. The Point of View: I
  236. The Point of View: II
  237. Mary of Magdala
  238. The Home-Coming
  239. Age to Youth
  240. In Age
  241. White Magic
  242. From the Portuguese
  243. The Nest
  244. The Old Magic
  245. Faith
  246. The Death of Agnes
  247. In Trouble
  248. Gratitude
  249. At the Last
  250. Fear
  251. The Day of Judgment
  252. A Farewell
  253. In Hospital
  254. Prayer in Time of War
  255. At Parting
  256. Invocation
  257. To Her: In Time of War
  258. The Fields of Flanders
  259. Spring in War-Time
  260. The Mother’s Prayer
  261. “Inasmuch as Ye Did It Not . . . ”
  262. Child’s Song in Spring
  263. Baby Seed Song

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