Poetry Codex

American

John Banister Tabb

1845–1909

John Banister Tabb (1845–1909) was an American poet and Roman Catholic priest, born in Amelia County, Virginia. He served in the Confederate army, was captured and imprisoned at Point Lookout, where he met Sidney Lanier, and later taught at St Charles College in Maryland.

He wrote very short, finished lyrics, often of four lines, on nature, childhood, and faith.

Poems (94)

  1. Childhood
  2. The White Jessamine
  3. Confided
  4. In Absence
  5. Hare-bells
  6. At Cock-Crow
  7. A Duet
  8. The Bobolink
  9. The Bluebird
  10. The Woodpecker
  11. Chimney Stacks
  12. Butterfly
  13. The Honey-Bee
  14. The Bee and the Blossoms
  15. The Tax-Gatherer
  16. Jack-o'-Lantern
  17. The Pleiads
  18. Jack Frost's Apology
  19. A Cavalcade
  20. Silk
  21. Seed-Time
  22. A Legacy
  23. Amid the Roses
  24. Light and Shadow
  25. Sleep
  26. The Fire-Fly
  27. The Dragon-Fly
  28. Archery
  29. A Spy
  30. A Lament
  31. Fern Song
  32. The Brook
  33. An Interview
  34. Baby's Dimples
  35. A Bunch of Roses
  36. Foot-Soldiers
  37. The Baby's Star
  38. Slumber-Song
  39. An Idolater
  40. The New-Year Babe
  41. Bicycles! Tricycles!
  42. High and Low
  43. Doctor Tumble-Bug
  44. Close Quarters
  45. The Time-Brood
  46. Pains-Taking
  47. A Rub
  48. Cats
  49. An Insectarian
  50. The Squirrel
  51. Hospitality
  52. Frog-Making
  53. The Tree-Frog Pedigree
  54. An Explanation
  55. The Parlour and the Fly
  56. No Go
  57. A Mouse, A Cat, and an Irish Bull
  58. The Same with a Difference
  59. An Inconvenience
  60. The Tryst
  61. Etiquette
  62. A Sunstroke
  63. A Shuffle
  64. Washington's Ruse
  65. Panic
  66. The End of It
  67. A Little Child's Prayers
  68. The Child: At Bethlehem
  69. To His Mother
  70. A Lily of the Field
  71. The Lamb-Child
  72. A Pair of Turtle-Doves
  73. Hide-and-Seek
  74. Out of Bounds
  75. The Child on Calvary
  76. The Child: At Nazareth
  77. St. Theresa and the Child
  78. Tradition
  79. The Life-Tide
  80. Communion
  81. Interpreter
  82. Christ and the Pagan
  83. All in All
  84. Evolution
  85. The Water-Lily
  86. To Shelley
  87. The Bubble
  88. The Sisters
  89. Anonymous
  90. Clover
  91. The Departed
  92. Indian Summer
  93. The Druid
  94. To a Wood-Violet

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