Description
Over 100 poets of labouring class origin were published in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some were hugely popular and important in their day but few are available today. This is a collection of some of those poems from the 19th century.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS OF VOLUME THREE -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction -- Chronology -- Note on the Text -- SAMUEL LAYCOCK (1826-1893) -- Lancashire Lyrics Written During the Cotton Famine, 1861-65 -- Welcome, Bonny Brid! -- Ther’s No Good i’ Ceaw’rin’ i’th’ Dust -- Sewin’ Class Song -- The Shurat Weaver’s Song -- Th’ Owd Barber Eawt o’ Wark -- God Bless ’Em, It Shows They’n Some Thowt -- Aw’ve Turned Mi’ Bit o’ Garden O’er -- Aw’ve Just Bin A-Lookin’ at th’ Scholars -- Poems and Songs in the Lancashire Dialect -- Th’ Stricken Stokers -- Quality Row -- Homely Advoice to th’ Unemployed -- Th’ Peers an’ th’ People -- Starved to Death -- To a Cricket -- Mally an’ Jonas -- Bispham -- Mi Gronny -- Sam Bamford -- Th’ Owd Pedlar’s Gone Whoam -- RICHARD WATSON (1833-1891) -- From Poems and Songs of Teesdale (1930) [1862] -- Baliol’s Tower and the Railway Bridge. A Dialogue -- On a Man Found Dead in a Byre at Harwood -- Gib’s Auld Mear -- My Journey to Work -- The Epitaph, Written at Edinburgh Infirmary a Few Days -- to His Death -- DAVID WINGATE (1828-1892) -- From Annie Weir and Other Poems (1866) -- Scene -- Annie Weir -- THOMAS BLACKAH (1828-1895) -- From Songs and Poems, Written in the Nidderdale Dialect (1867) -- We May Be Lo’ We May Be Poor -- T’ Cobblers Roond -- Cheer Up, Jerry -- Hardcastle Moor -- JOHN BEDFORD LENO (1824-1894) -- From Drury Lane Lyrics (1868) -- A Glorious Trio -- The Sounds of Labour -- Herne’s Oak -- There’s Plenty for All -- From Kimburton, A Story of Village Life (1889) -- The Overflow -- The Common Reclaimed -- Bet Graham -- The Village Naturalist -- A Horrible Crime -- A Slap at the Game Laws -- Jim Blake -- The Lovers’ Quarrel -- The Old and New Parson -- Poperlashun -- Farewell! to Kimburton -- ELLEN JOHNSTON (c. 1835-1873) -- From Autobiography, Poems, and Songs of Ellen Johnston, the ‘Factory Girl’ (1869) [1867] -- An Address to Napier’s Dockyard -- A Mother’s Love -- The Drunkard’s Wife -- Lines To a Young Gentleman of Surpassing Beauty -- The Working Man -- Lines On Behalf of the Boatbuilders and Boilermakers of Great Britain and Ireland -- Lines To Mr James Dorward, Power-Loom Foreman, Chapelside Works, Dundee -- An Address to Kelvin Water -- The Factory Girl’s Farewell -- The Last Sark -- The Sha’maker’s Wife -- Nelley’s Lament for the Pirnhouse Cat -- An Address to Nature on Its Cruelty -- Lines by Edith to the Factory Girl -- Rhyming Nelly, First Version -- Wanted, a Man -- The Last Lay of ‘The Factory Girl’ -- JOHN MACLEAY PEACOCK (1817-1877) -- From Hours Of Reverie (1867) -- There is No Christmas for the Poor -- Lines on the Floating out of H. M. Steam Ram, ‘Agincourt’ -- From Poems (1880) -- Recollections of the River Tyne, at Newcastle -- Night Scenes in the City -- The Coming Change -- The Centennial of the Great Republic (July 4, 1876) -- Stanzas to David Wingate, the Collier Poet -- JOE WILSON (1841-1872) -- From Tyneside Songs and Drolleries. Readings and Temperance Songs (1891) [1867] -- Life o’ Joe Wilson (as far as It’s Gyen) -- Me Muther’s Warnin! -- Aw Wish Yor Muther Wad Cum -- Ne Wark -- The Gallowgate Lad! -- The Drapers’ Appeal -- In Memory of the Hartley Catastrophe -- The Row upon the Stairs -- Jesmond Pic-Nic -- Acrostic -- Hannah’s Black Eye -- Dinnet Clash the Door! -- Jimmy’s Gettin Wark! -- It’s Time te Gan te Bed -- Says He! Say Aw! -- Wor Tyneside Tallint Gyen! -- Benny ’ill not Gan te Scheul! -- Hungry Geordey! -- Charity! -- If Deed Foaks Com te Life Agyen! -- The Strike -- Deeth i’ the Street -- FANNY FORRESTER (1852-1889) -- Poems Printed in Ben Brierley’s Journal, 1870-78 -- Strangers in the City -- I. Homeless in the City -- II. Toiling in the City -- III. Dying in the City -- In the Workhouse—A Deserter’s Story -- The Lowly Bard -- Song: ‘Bring Me a Sweet White Rose!’ -- A Mother’s Letter -- JOHN GREGORY (1831-1922) -- From Idyls of Labour (1871) -- Reflections on the American War -- Nathan Heartless -- The Wail of Labour -- Horrible Frost -- Ernest Jones -- Grandfather Hoare, The Good Shoemaker -- From Song Streams (1877) -- Preface -- Eve in the City -- Sonnets on Chatterton’s Church, Bristol -- The Battle-Song of Labour (1890) -- From Green to Gray (undated late poem) -- JOSEPH SKIPSEY (1832-1903) -- From Poems (1871) -- Hey Robin -- Get Up! -- The Collier Lad -- A Golden Lot -- Mother Wept -- The Hartley Calamity -- Verses -- From A Book of Miscellaneous Lyrics (1878) -- Man -- The Seer -- The Inner Conflict -- The Mystic Lyre -- Freedom -- Let England Beware -- The Thought Toiler -- The Downfall of Mammon -- From The Poems, With Specimens of the Prose Writings, of William Blake (1885) -- From Introductory Sketch -- From Carols from the Coal-Fields (1886) -- The Singer -- ALEXANDER ANDERSON (1845-1909) -- From A Song of Labour and Other Poems (1873) -- Recollections of Byron -- The Engine -- On the Engine in the Night-time -- Brighter the Flowers -- A Blessing on the Tinkers -- I Walk with the Stern Dante -- From The Two Angels and Other Poems (1875) -- Cuddle Doon -- From Songs of the Rail (1881) -- Prefatory Note -- A Song for My Fellows -- Rid of His Engine -- Jim’s Whistle -- Nottman -- Railway Dreamings -- The Wires -- Bob Cruikshanks -- NOAH COOKE (b. 1831) -- From Wild Warblings (1876) -- Introduction -- The Violet’s Complaint -- The Peasant’s Farewell to Fatherland -- Labour’s Charter -- A ‘Quill ’ for the Shuttle -- The Lowly Poet’s Grave -- An Invitation -- Legal Justice -- The Weaver’s Song -- The Heights of Wassel -- The Free Commoner -- JESSIE RUSSELL (b. 1850) -- From The Blinkin’ o’ the Fire and Other Poems (1877) -- Preface -- ‘Father Clyde’s’ Welcome to the Authoress’ Book -- The Blinkin’ o’ the Fire -- The Three-Tree Well -- ‘Signs of Our Times’ -- A Domestic Dirge -- The Muse’s Protest -- The Carpenter’s Wife’s Advice -- Woman’s Rights Versus Woman’s Wrongs -- A Recantation -- Washing Day -- Tuning My Lyre -- The Kirn -- The Tower of Thor (Torthorwald) -- Betty’s Trust -- A Letter to Australia -- WILLIAM MCGONAGALL (1830-1902) -- From Poetic Gems Selected from the Works of William McGonagall (1890-91) [1878] -- Ode to William McGonagall -- The Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay -- The Tay Bridge Disaster -- From Last Poetic Gems (1968) -- A New Year’s Resolution to Leave Dundee -- Women’s Suffrage -- EFFIE WILLIAMSON (1815-1882) -- From The Tangled Web: Poems and Hymns (1883) -- Bonnie White Snaw -- Maggie and I -- A Mither’s Sang to Her Bairnie -- ROBERT MAYBEE (1810-1891) -- From Sixty-Eight Years’ Experience on the Scilly Islands (1884) -- [Ringing Tide] -- [Early Memories] -- [A Hot Summer] -- Loss of the ‘Earl of Arran’ -- Lines on the Loss of the ‘Earl of Arran’ -- [’Twas Early on a Summer’s Morn] -- FREDERICK BARTLETT (fl. 1886) -- From Flashes from Forge and Foundry (1886) -- Patronize Pantomime -- A Christmas Appeal for the Poor -- ROBERT JONES DERFEL (1824-1905) -- From Hymns and Songs for the Church of Man (1890) -- Written in a Church -- From Social Songs (1890) -- Enough for All -- Work, Work, Work -- A Visit to a School -- From Musings for the Masses (1895) -- If the Masses Knew Their Power -- From Secular Hymns (1896) -- Goodwill to All -- CHRISTOPHER MURRAY BOUSTEAD (fl. 1892) -- From Rustic Verse and Dialect Rhymes (1892) -- Oft Jack an’ Me -- Auld Jimmie -- The Model Stonebreaker -- BEN BRIERLEY (1825-1896) -- From Spring Blossoms and Autumn Leaves (1893) -- Owd Pigeon -- Those Town Hall Stairs -- Gypsies -- Hard Times -- Notes -- Thematic Index -- Index of First Lines -- Index of Titles.
