WordSmiths: Poetry On-line

Featuring quality
classic and original poetry.


Welcome to WordSmiths!
Do you enjoy the work of the masters of modern poetry? WordSmiths brings you not only the most famous works by such poets as Edgar Allen Poe, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, but some of their lesser known poems as well.

Have you ever wondered what works such lines as:
"How do I love thee, let me count the ways..."
or
"Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a cage;"
are from?
You can find these, and more, right here.

To learn more about your favorite poet, visit the About The Poets section for little known information about these poet masters.


Do you like to see what fresh, unknown poets are creating? We also bring you a wide selection of original works by fresh, new poets. If you are a poet, this is a fine place to compare and contrast your work with your peers. Plus, WordSmiths will be happy to post your work! Just visit our Submit page.

We hope you enjoy your visit to our site, and that you will return often. Please, take a moment to give us some feedback or suggestions.

Don't forget to check out our Featured Selection, right at the bottom of this page!


What's Inside


Favorite Poems

Original Works

About the Poets

Links Page

To submit your work for posting by Wordsmiths


Featured Work


A Psalm Of Life

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow



Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!--
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
"Dust thou art, to dust returnest,"
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each tomorrow
Find us farther than today.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act--act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, debarting, leave behind us
Footprints on the sand of time--

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.


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