Collected Poems Volume One

by Alfred Noyes

This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.

Genres: Poetry, Classics

438 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1913

About the author

Alfred Noyes was the son of Alfred and Amelia Adams Noyes. His father was a teacher and taught Latin and Greek and in Aberystwyth, Wales. In 1898, Alfred attended Exeter College in Oxford. Though he failed to earn a degree, the young poet published his first collection of poetry, The Loom of Years, in 1902.

Between 1903 and 1908, Noyes published five volumes of poetry including The Forest of Wild Thyme (1905) and The Flower of Old Japan and Other Poems (1907). His books were widely reviewed and were published both in Britain and the United States. Among his best-known poems from this time are The Highwayman and Drake. Drake, which appeared serially in Blackwood's Magazine, was a two-hundred page epic about life at sea.

Noyes married Garnett Daniels in 1907, and they had three children. His increasing popularity allowed the family to live off royalty cheques. In 1914, Noyes accepted a teaching position at Princeton University, where he taught English Literature until 1923. He was a noted critic of modernist writers, particularly James Joyce. Likewise, his work at this time was criticized by some for its refusal to embrace the modernist movement.

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Reviews

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genuinely the most beautiful poems I have ever read. A diverse body of work that made me tear up at points. It’s simple enough that anyone can enjoy the beautiful language but complex enough that it will make you think for a while. And that’s exactly what I experienced. The Highwayman and the Haunted Palace were my two favorites. One showed the heart wrenching sacrifices that we make for true love and the romantic idea of dying for someone else’s sake. The other talked of the harsh reality of unrequited love and the painful consequences that follow. I have never enjoyed poetry more and I truly believe there is a poem for everyone in this book. It really brought me back to the roots of literature and reminded me why people make art for art’s sake.

[Chrystal]

The first dozen or so of these poems are wonderful, but then I got lost in a sea of epic poems about Japan, fairies and patriotism. I would try to skip ahead, but this lame (free) Kindle book has no index and I found myself paging through hundreds of pages of epic poems, trying to find the next one.

Will have to re-visit Noyes with an actual paper copy or an electronic copy with an index.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I decided to read this because I'd never read (at least not that I remember) The Highwayman, which is quoted in another book I am reading. The poems I liked, I really loved. The religion thing figures too much for my taste, but that is who he was. I can hardly lay fault with the writing based on my belief system. Some of my favorites: Pirates, A Song of Two Burdens, Love's Ghost.