Weekly Contest
Classic poem of the day
As I looked out one May morning
I saw the tree-tops green;
I said: ‘My crown I will lay down
And live no more a queen.’
Then I tripped down my golden steps
Dressed in my silken gown,
And when I stood in the open wood
I met some gypsies brown.
‘O gentle, gentle gypsies
That roam the wide world through,
Because I hate my crown and state,
O let me come with you!
‘My councillors are old and grey
And sit in narrow chairs,
But you can hear the birds sing clear
And your hearts are as light as theirs.’
‘If you would come along with us
Then you must count the cost,
For though in Spring the sweet birds sing,
In Winter comes the frost.
‘Your ladies serve you all the day
With courtesy and care,
Your fine-shod feet they tread so neat
But a gypsy's feet go bare.
‘You wash in water running warm
Through basins all of gold;
Th...
member poem of the day
These are translations of some of the oldest rhyming poems, both English rhyming poems and ancient rhyming poems from other languages.
Translations of the Oldest Rhyming Poems in the English Language
These are translations of some of the oldest rhyming poems in the English language. While the focus is on early English rhyming poems, there is a section on early rhyming poems from other languages at the bottom of this page. The oldest Old English (i.e., Anglo-Saxon) poems did not rhyme, but were alliterative and used repetition of consonant and vowel sounds to create word-music. For example:
Cædmon's Hymn (circa 658-680 AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Humbly now we honour heaven-kingdom's Guardian,
the Measurer's might and his mind-plans,
the goals of the Glory-Father. First he, the Everlasting Lord,
established earth's fearful foundations.
Then he,
