Celebrate Poetry Month with us! Each morning in April, the Rare Books and Special Collections Department at CLP – Main will bring poetry to life over the PA system. This started on April 1st with “Lettuce. A Garden Esculent. Cold Hearted,” by the American poet F.S. Osgood. Renowned as one of her era’s leading female poets, Osgood was a key figure in the Language of Flowers genre, a literary trend of the 19th century that brought botany into the spotlight. This movement included flower dictionaries detailing their meanings, and floral-themed poetry and prose, providing a sentimental view of natural history.

Drop in for a listen each day in April at 10AM or make an appointment with the Rare Books and Special Collections Department to see these poetic treasures up close.

In case you missed it, here’s a list of poems we’ve read each day in April. Be sure to check back for updates throughout the month.

PA System Poems, April 2024

• • April 1st: “Lettuce. A Garden Esculent. Cold Hearted” by F.S. Osgood from the publication The Language of Flowers, 1847
  • April 2nd: “Opus 50” by Anne Knish from the publication Spectra, a Book of Poetic Experiments, 1916
  • April 3rd: “Pittsburgh” by Mary Conner from the publication Songs of a Smokey City, 1936
  • April 4th: “Thursday” by Edna St Vincent Millay from the publication A Few Figs from Thistles, 1921
  • April 5th: “Give” by Adelaide Anne Procter from the publication The Poems of Adelaide A. Procter, (18- )
  • April 6th: “The Capture” by Andrew Coffinberry from the publication The Forest Rangers a Poetic Tale of the Western Wilderness in 1794, 1842
  • April 7th: “The Dark Night (XVIII)” by May Sinclair from the publication The Dark Night, 1924
  • April 8th: “A Place on Earth” by Gwen Frostic from the publication A Place on Earth
  • April 9th: “A Very Short Song” by Dorothy Parker from the publication Not So Deep As A Well, 1936
  • April 10th: “Germs” by Walt Whitman from the publication Leaves of Grass, 1950
  • April 11th: “The Sugar Plum Tree” by Eugene Field from the publication With Trumpet and Drum, 1892
  • April 12th: “After Apple-Picking” by Robert Frost from the publication Collected Poems, 1939
  • April 13th: “To a Mouse” by Robert Burns from the publication The Poetical Works of Robert Burns, 1886
  • April 14th: “Prairie Dawn” by Willa Cather from the publication April Twilights, 1903
  • April 15th: “April” by Nathaniel P. Willis from the publication Selections From The American Poets, 1848
  • April 16th: “The Light Of Stars” By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow from the publication Selections From The American Poets, 1848
  • April 17th: “Diseases Of Sheep; Mange Cured With Tabacco ; Vermin Cured With Lime” by Joseph William Jenks from the publication, The Rural Poetry of the English Language, 1856
  • April 18th: “To A Nuisance” by Harvey S. McMaster from the publication The Home Monthly, Vol 7, No. 2, September 1898
  • April 19th: “The Lady Of The Lake Canto First The Chase” by Sir Walter Scott from the publication The Lady of the Lake; A Poem in Six Cantos, 1810
  • April 20th: “The Complaint. Night The First: On Life, Death, And Immortality” by Edward Young from the publication Night Thoughts, 1802
  • April 21st: “Chorus Of Eden Spirits” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning from the publication The Female Poets of Great Britain, 1854
  • April 22nd: “My Birthday” by John G. Whittier from the publication The Pennsylvania Pilgrim, 1872
  • April 23rd: “Paradise Lost” by John Milton from the publication Paradise Lost, 1790
  • April 24th: “The Old, Old, Very Old Man” by John Taylor from the publication The Old, Old, Very Old Man, 1794
  • April 25th: “One Ring” by J R R Tolkien from the publication The Hobbit
  • April 26th: “Rose-Leaves. A Tear” by Austin Dobson from the publication Proverbs in Porcelain, 1893
  • April 27th: “Soon” by Anonymous from the publication The Home Monthly, Vol. 7, No. 4, April 1898
  • April 28th: “An Old Elegy” by Witter Bynner from the publication Grenstone Poems – a Sequence, 1917
  • April 29th: “Sunset” by Poet Riq (Riquarius) from the publication Column Poets, 1924
  • April 30th: “The Morning Walk, Or The Stolen Blush” by Frances Sargent Osgood from the publication Selections from the American Poets, 1839, edited by William Cullen Bryan

 

*Featured image taken from The Language of Flowers, 1847