1. Emily dickinson

Indian Summer*

These are the days when birds come back,

A very few, a bird or two,

To take a backward look.

These are the days when skies put, on

The old, old sophistries of June; -

A blue and gold mistake.

Oh, fraud that cannot, cheat the bee,

Almost thy plausibility

Induces my belief,

Till ranks of seeds their witness bear,

And softly through the altered air

Hurries a timid leaf!

Oh, sacrament of summer days,

Oh, last communion in the haze,

Permit a child to join,

Thy sacred emblems to partake,

Thy consecrated bread to break,

Taste thine immortal wine!

*Anthology of English and American Verse. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1972, p.490.

Note

«bread to breake … immortal wine» - an allusion to the Bible:

«And as they were eating, Jesus

took bread, and blessed it, and brake it,

and gave it to the disciples, and said:

«Take, ear, this is my body». And he

took the cup, and gave thanks, and

gave to them, saying: «Drink ye all of it; For

this is my blood of the new testament,

which is shed for many for the remission of sins».

The poet hints at the feast when Christians break bread, drink wine and thank Jesus for die gift of himself. This feast is called the feast of Corpus Christi. The words «Corpus Christi» are the words for the body of Christ. The feast is celebrated about eight weeks after Easter.

2. Henry wadsworth longfellow

The Rainy Day*

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains, and the wind is never weary;

The vine still clings to the mouldering wall,

But at every gust the dead leaves fall,

And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;

It rains, and the wind is never weary;

My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past,

But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;.

Behind the clouds in the sun still shining;

Thy fate is the common fate of all,

Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

*Anthology of English and American Verse. Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1972, p. 451-452.

3. A.E.Housman

When I Was One-And-Twenty**

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard a wise man say,

«Give crowns and pounds and guineas,

But not your heart away,

Give pearls away and rubies

But keep your fancy free.»

But I was one-and-twenty,

No use to talk to me.

When I was one-and-twenty

I heard him say again,

«The heart out of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

‘This paid with sighs a plenty

And sold for endless rue.»

And I am two-and-twenty,

And oh, ‘tis true, 'tis true.

**Prokhorova, V.I., Soshalskaya, E.G. Oral Practice through Stylistic Analysis. Moscow: Higher School, 1979, p. 46.

4. Carl sandburg

Grass*

Pile the bodies, high at Austerlitz and Waterloo.

Shovel them under and let me work –

I am the grass; I cover all.

And pile them high at Gettysburg

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun,

Shovel them under and let me work

Two years, ten years, and passengers

ask the conductor

«What place is this?

Where are we now?»

I am the grass,

Let me work.

*Prokhorova, V.I., Soslavskaya, E.G. Oral Practice through Stylistic Analysis. Moscow: Higher School, 1979, p. 47.