Poetry Codex

American

Laura E. Richards

1850–1943

Laura Elizabeth Howe Richards (1850–1943) was an American writer, the daughter of Julia Ward Howe, author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", and the physician and reformer Samuel Gridley Howe. She wrote many books for young readers, among them the verse collection In My Nursery (1890), which is dedicated to her mother.

With Maud Howe Elliott she won the 1917 Pulitzer Prize for Biography for a life of her mother. Her nonsense rhymes, with their coined words and rollicking rhythms, are among the best-loved comic verse for children in American writing; the best known, "Eletelephony", appeared in a later collection.

Poems (152)

  1. To My Mother
  2. In My Nursery
  3. The Baby's Future
  4. Baby's Hand
  5. The First Tooth
  6. Johnny's By-low Song
  7. Baby's Valentine
  8. The Rain
  9. The Ballad of the Fairy Spoon
  10. Song of the Little Winds
  11. Good-night Song
  12. Another "Good-night"
  13. "A Bee Came Tumbling"
  14. Jingle
  15. Little Old Baby
  16. Baby's Journey
  17. The Bumblebee
  18. The Owl and the Eel and the Warming-Pan
  19. Young (one)'s Night Thoughts
  20. Little Sunbeam
  21. Baby's Belongings
  22. Infantry Tactics
  23. Baby Bo
  24. The Difference
  25. Little John Bottlejohn
  26. Jemima Brown
  27. Alice's Supper
  28. Toddlekins
  29. Bobbily Boo and Wollypotump
  30. Sleepyland
  31. Little Brown Bobby
  32. Phil's Secret
  33. A Song for Hal
  34. The Fairies
  35. The Queen of the Orkney Islands
  36. Baby's Ways
  37. Pot and Kettle
  38. Punkydoodle and Jollapin
  39. Mrs. Snipkin and Mrs. Wobblechin
  40. My Sunbeams
  41. In the Closet
  42. Bed-time
  43. Bird-song
  44. Geographi
  45. Higgledy-piggledy
  46. Belinda Blonde
  47. Tommy's Dream; or, The Geography Demon
  48. Polly's Year
  49. What the Robins Sing in the Morning
  50. The Eve of the Glorious Fourth
  51. The Dandy Cat
  52. A Party
  53. Jumbo Jee
  54. An Indian Ballad
  55. The Egg
  56. Wouldn't
  57. Will-o'-the-Wisp
  58. Nonsense Verses
  59. An Old Rat's Tale
  60. To the Little Girl Who Wriggles
  61. The Forty Little Ducklings
  62. The Mouse
  63. A Valentine
  64. Jamie in the Garden
  65. Somebody's Boy (Not Mine)
  66. Bogy
  67. The Mermaidens
  68. The Phrisky Phrog
  69. The Ambitious Chicken
  70. The Boy and the Brook
  71. The Shark
  72. The Easter Hen
  73. Pump and Planet
  74. The Postman
  75. Hopsy Upsy
  76. Little Black Monkey
  77. Jippy and Jimmy
  78. Master Jack's Song
  79. Mother Rosebush
  80. The Five Little Princesses
  81. The Hornet and the Bee
  82. The Three Little Chickens Who Went Out to Tea, and the Elephant
  83. A Legend of Lake Okeefinokee
  84. Grandpapa's Valentine
  85. Alibazan
  86. The Three Fishers
  87. Peepsy
  88. May Song
  89. Two Little Valentines
  90. A Howl about an Owl
  91. Our Celebration
  92. The Song of the Corn-Popper
  93. What Bobby Said
  94. Master Jack's Views
  95. Emily Jane
  96. Song of the Mother Whose Children Are Fond of Drawing
  97. The Seven Little Tigers and the Aged Cook
  98. Agamemnon
  99. The Wedding
  100. Swing Song
  101. The Little Cossack
  102. What a Very Rude Little Bird Said to Johnny This Morning
  103. The Monkeys and the Crocodile
  104. Painted Ladies
  105. Some Fishy Nonsense
  106. Lady's Slipper
  107. A Little Song to Sing to a Little Maid in a Swing
  108. Betty in Blossom-time
  109. Betty's Song
  110. A Nonsense Tragedy
  111. From New York to Boston
  112. Sandy Godolphin
  113. My Clock
  114. My Uncle Jehoshaphat
  115. Rosy Posy
  116. Sick-room Fancies
  117. Marjorie's Knitting
  118. He and His Family
  119. Easter-time
  120. Easter
  121. Jacky Frost
  122. Subtraction
  123. Grandfather Dear
  124. Gathering Apples
  125. The Ballad of the Beach
  126. The Boots of a Household
  127. The Palace
  128. Bunker Hill Monument
  129. May
  130. Gregory Griggs
  131. A Nursery Tragedy
  132. The Umbrella Brigade
  133. The Princess in Saturn and the Red Man in Mars
  134. Wiggle and Waggle and Bubble and Squeak
  135. Gret Gran'f'ther
  136. Day Dreams
  137. The Battle
  138. The Strange Beast
  139. A Garden Jingle
  140. The Baby Goes to Boston
  141. The Flag in the Schoolroom
  142. Johnny Jump-up
  143. The Outlandishman
  144. A Sleigh-ride
  145. The Little Gnome
  146. The Little Dutchess
  147. Molly Pitcher
  148. A Song of Two Angels
  149. Where Helen Sits
  150. Prince Tatters
  151. A Nursery Song
  152. In Foreign Parts

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