Toni Bowers reads a selection of British and American poetry from the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries

Read at the Kelly Writers House's Wexler Studio on April 26 and May 3, 2024.

Aphra Behn (1640-1689)

1. Behn, A Thousand Martyrs (0:58): MP3
2. Behn, In Imitation of Horace ("What Mean These Amorous Curls") (1:27): MP3
3. Behn, The Disappointment. (7:25): MP3
4. Behn, To the Fair Clarinda Who Made Love to Me, Imagin'd More Than Woman (1:35): MP3

Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)

1. Bradstreet, Before the Birth of One of Her Children. ("All Things Within This Fading World"). (1:54): MP3
2. Bradstreet, To My Dear and Loving Husband. ("If Ever Two Were One") (0:50): MP3

Emily Jane Bronte (1818-1848)

1. Bronte, 25. ("Long Neglect Has Worn Away.") (0:36): MP3
2. Bronte, 32. Lines. ("Far Away is the Land of Rest"). (1:03): MP3
3. Bronte, 37. ("I'll Come When Thou Art Saddest.")' (0:52): MP3
4. Bronte, 108. A Farewell to Alexandria. / The Outcast Mother. ("I’ve Seen this Dell"). (2:11): MP3
5. Bronte, 111. ("Shed No Tears O'er That Tomb.") (1:25): MP3
6. Bronte, 118. Song. ("O, Between Distress and Pleasure"). (1:13): MP3
7. Bronte, 120. ("The Wind, I Hear it Sighing.") (1:17): MP3
8. Bronte, 174. To Imagination. ("When Weary With the Long Day's Care"). (2:04): MP3
9. Bronte, 176. Plead For Me. ("O Thy Bright Eyes Must Answer Now"). (2:14):MP3

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

1. Barrett Browning, Grief. ("I tell you, hopeless grief in passionless") (1:04): MP3
2. Barrett Browning, Sonnets From the Portuguese #43. ("How Do I Love Thee?"). (1:07): MP3
3. Barrett Browning, Love ("We cannot live except thus mutually we alternate") (0:58): MP3

Margaret Lucas Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne (1623-1673)

1. Cavendish, An Apology For Her Poetry ("I language want to dress my fancies in") (1:12): MP3
2. Cavendish, Man's Short Life and Foolish Ambition ("In Gardens Sweet") (2:02): MP3

Mary Lee, Lady Chudleigh (1656-1710)

1. Chudleigh, Song. (“Why Damon, why why why”) (1:12): MP3
2. Chudleigh, To the Ladies (“Wife and servant are the same”). (1:19): MP3
3. Chudleigh, The Wish (“Would but indulgent fortune send”) (1:31): MP3

Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)

1. Dickinson, 372. ("After great pain, a formal feeling comes.") (0:48): MP3
2. Dickinson, 146. ("All overgrown by cunning moss.") (0:34): MP3
3. Dickinson, 336. ("Before I got my eye put out.") (1:00): MP3
4. Dickinson, 1702. ("Fame is a fickle food.") (0:23): MP3
5. Dickinson, 254. ("'Hope' is the thing with feathers.") (0:35): MP3
6. Dickinson, 269. ("Wild nights - Wild nights!") (0:26): MP3

George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) (1819-1880)

1. Eliot, In a London Drawingroom. (1:09): MP3

Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of Winchilsea (1661-1720)

1. Finch, Ardelia to Melancholy ("At last, my old inveterate foe"). (2:26): MP3
2. Finch, Adam Posed ("Could our first father") (0:47): MP3
3. Finch, The Introduction ("Did I my lines intend for public view") (4:11): MP3
4. Finch, The Apology ("'Tis true I write and tell me by what rule") (1:12): MP3
5. Finch, On Myself ("Good Heaven, I thank thee") (0:45): MP3

Anne Killigrew (1660-1685)

1. Killigrew, Upon the Saying that My Verses Were Made by Another ("Next heaven my vows to thee") (4:14): MP3
2. Killigrew, A selection from A Pastoral Dialogue: Melibaeus, Alcippe, Asteria, Licida, Alcimedon, and Amira. ("Remember when you love"). (2:35): MP3
3. Killigrew, On Death ("Tell me thou safest end"). (2:22): MP3

Charlotte Mew (1869-1928)

1. Mew, A Quoi Bon Dire? (0:42): MP3
2. Mew, Not for That City (0:51): MP3
3. Mew, On the Road to the Sea. (4:13): MP3
4. Mew, The Farmer's Bride. (2:41): MP3

Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

1. Millay, Dirge Without Music (1:36): MP3
2. Millay, I Being Born a Woman (0:52): MP3
3. Millay, Lament ("Listen, children") (0:49): MP3
4. Millay, From Four Sonnets: Sonnet III. ("Oh think not I am faithful") (0:54): MP3
5. Millay, Spring ("To what purpose, April, do you return"). (0:57): MP3
6. Millay, What lips my lips have kissed (0:59): MP3

Lady Mary Pierrepont Wortley Montagu (1689-1762)

1. Wortley Montagu, On the Death of Mrs. Bowes ("Hail happy bride") (0:53): MP3
2. Wortley Montagu, The Reasons that Induced Dr. S. to write a Poem called 'The Lady's Dressing Room.' ("The doctor in a clean starched band") (4:40): MP3
3. Wortley Montagu, Epistle from Mrs. Yonge to Her Husband ("Think not this paper comes") (5:16): MP3

Katherine Fowler Philips (1631/2-1664)

1. Philips, Epitaph (1:26): MP3
2. Philips, Friendship's Mystery, to My Dearest Lucasia. (1:50): MP3
3. Philips, Friendship (3:41): MP3
4. Philips, On the Death of My First and Dearest Child (1:32): MP3
5. Philips, On the Welsh Language. (3:10): MP3
6. Philips, To Mrs. M.A. at Parting (3:02): MP3
7. Philips, To My Excellent Lucasia, on Our Friendship (1:12): MP3

Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806)

1. Smith, Sonnet LXX. (On Being Cautioned against Walking on Headland Overlooking the Sea, Because it was Frequented by a Lunatic). (0:50): MP3
2. Smith, Sonnet XLIV: Press'd by the Moon (0:59): MP3
3. Smith, Sonnet II. Sonnet Written at the Close of Spring (“The garlands fade”) (0:55): MP3

Lady Mary Sidney Wroth (1587-1653)

1. Wroth, Song ("Love, a child, is ever crying"). (1:06): MP3

These sound recordings are © 2024 Toni Bowers. Recordings available for non-commercial and educational use only. Distributed with permission by PennSound.