She walks in beauty, like the night 
Of cloudless climes and starry skies; 
And all that’s best of dark and bright 
Meet in her aspect and her eyes; 
Thus mellowed to that tender light 
Which heaven to gaudy day denies. 

One shade the more, one ray the less, 
Had half impaired the nameless grace 
Which waves in every raven tress, 
Or softly lightens o’er her face; 
Where thoughts serenely sweet express, 
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. 

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow, 
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent, 
The smiles that win, the tints that glow, 
But tell of days in goodness spent, 
A mind at peace with all below, 
A heart whose love is innocent!

EDUQAS Poetry Anthology

She Walks In Beauty (EDUQAS)

I wander thro' each charter'd street, 
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow. 
And mark in every face I meet 
Marks of weakness, marks of woe. 

In every cry of every Man, 
In every Infants cry of fear, 
In every voice: in every ban, 
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear 

How the Chimney-sweepers cry 
Every blackning Church appalls, 
And the hapless Soldiers sigh 
Runs in blood down Palace walls 

But most thro' midnight streets I hear 
How the youthful Harlots curse 
Blasts the new-born Infants tear 
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

London (AQA/EDUQAS)

Ozymandias (AQA/EDUQAS)

I could pick anything and think of you— 
This lamp, the wind-still rain, the glossy blue 
My pen exudes, drying matte, upon the page. 
I could choose any hero, any cause or age 
And, sure as shooting arrows to the heart, 
Astride a dappled mare, legs braced as far apart 
As standing in silver stirrups will allow— 
There you'll be, with furrowed brow 
And chain mail glinting, to set me free: 
One eye smiling, the other firm upon the enemy. 

This post-postmodern age is all business: compact disks 
And faxes, a do-it-now-and-take-no-risks 
Event. Today a hurricane is nudging up the coast, 
Oddly male: Big Bad Floyd, who brings a host 
Of daydreams: awkward reminiscences 
Of teenage crushes on worthless boys 
Whose only talent was to kiss you senseless. 
They all had sissy names—Marcel, Percy, Dewey; 
Were thin as licorice and as chewy, 
Sweet with a dark and hollow center. Floyd's 

Cussing up a storm. You're bunkered in your 
Aerie, I'm perched in mine 
(Twin desks, computers, hardwood floors): 
We're content, but fall short of the Divine. 
Still, it's embarrassing, this happiness— 
Who's satisfied simply with what's good for us, 
When has the ordinary ever been news? 
And yet, because nothing else will do 
To keep me from melancholy (call it blues), 
I fill this stolen time with you.

Cozy Apologia (EDUQAS)

I - The Tragedy

She sits in the tawny vapour 
That the Thames-side lanes have uprolled, 
Behind whose webby fold-on-fold 
Like a waning taper 
The street-lamp glimmers cold.

A messenger's knock cracks smartly, 
Flashed news in her hand 
Of meaning it dazes to understand 
Though shaped so shortly: 
He—he has fallen—in the far South Land…

II - The Irony

'Tis the morrow; the fog hangs thicker, 
The postman nears and goes: 
A letter is brought whose lines disclose 
By the firelight flicker 
His hand, whom the worm now knows:

Fresh—firm—penned in highest feather— 
Page-full of his hoped return, 
And of home-planned jaunts of brake and burn 
In the summer weather, 
And of new love that they would learn.

A Wife in London (EDUQAS)

SEASON of mists and mellow fruitfulness,	
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;	
Conspiring with him how to load and bless	
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;	
To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,	        
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;	
    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells	
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,	
  And still more, later flowers for the bees,	
  Until they think warm days will never cease,	        
    For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.	
 


Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?	
  Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find	
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,	
  Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;	        
Or on a half-reap’d furrow sound asleep,	
  Drows’d with the fume of poppies, while thy hook	
    Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:	
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep	
  Steady thy laden head across a brook;	        
  Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,	
    Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.	
 


Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they?	
  Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,—	
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,	        
  And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue;	
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn	
  Among the river sallows, borne aloft	
    Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;	
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;	        
  Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft	
  The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;	
    And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

To Autumn (EDUQAS)

When we two parted	 
  In silence and tears,	 
Half broken-hearted	 
  To sever for years,	 
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,	        
  Colder thy kiss;	 
Truly that hour foretold	 
  Sorrow to this.	 
 
The dew of the morning	 
  Sunk chill on my brow—	  
It felt like the warning	 
  Of what I feel now.	 
Thy vows are all broken,	 
  And light is thy fame:	 
I hear thy name spoken,	  
  And share in its shame.	 
 
They name thee before me,	 
  A knell to mine ear;	 
A shudder comes o'er me—	 
  Why wert thou so dear?	  
They know not I knew thee,	 
  Who knew thee too well:	 
Long, long shall I rue thee,	 
  Too deeply to tell.	 
 
In secret we met—	  
  In silence I grieve,	 
That thy heart could forget,	 
  Thy spirit deceive.	 
If I should meet thee	 
  After long years,	  
How should I greet thee?	 
  With silence and tears.

When We Two Parted (AQA)

Neutral Tones (AQA)

Poems from the EDUQAS and AQA GCSE English Literature Poetry Anthologies, set to music and available to download. Hopefully, it will help you remember them more easily!
Adding more as I write/record them.

Mr T

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