Public Domain Poetry - Bret Harte (Francis)
Public Domain Poetry - Bret Harte (Francis)
Poetry in the public domain, from past literary greats of historic times.


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Bret Harte (Francis)

August 25, 1836 � May 6, 1902

Poetry Listing


Read More About Bret Harte (Francis) below poetry list
Poem TitleFirst LinesPeriod# Lines# Reads
1: A Geological Madrigal I have found out a gift for my fair; 321791
2: A Greyport Legend They ran through the streets of the seaport town, 421563
3: A Legend of Cologne Above the bones St. Ursula owns, 2761823
4: A Moral Vindicator If Mr. Jones, Lycurgus B., Had one peculiar quality, 361730
5: A Newport Romance They say that she died of a broken heart 761663
6: A Question of Privilege It was Andrew Jackson Sutter who, despising Mr. Cutter for remarks he heard him utter in debate upon the floor, 181847
7: A Sanitary Message Last night, above the whistling wind, 402059
8: A Second Review of the Grand Army I read last night of the grand review 731643
9: Address - The Opening of the California Theatre, San Francisco, January 19, 1870 Brief words, when actions wait, are well: 531899
10: After the Accident What I want is my husband, sir, 441975
11: Alnaschar Here�s yer toy balloons! All sizes! 471915
12: An Arctic Vision Where the short-legged Esquimaux 811936
13: An Idyl of the Road Look how the upland plunges into cover, 601881
14: Artemis in Sierra Halt! Here we are. Now wheel your mare a trifle 811645
15: Aspiring Miss De Laine Certain facts which serve to explain 1821817
16: At the Hacienda Know I not whom thou mayst be 171893
17: Avitor What was it filled my youthful dreams, 401819
18: Battle Bunny Bunny, lying in the grass, Saw the shining column pass; 591656
19: Before the Curtain Behind the footlights hangs the rusty baize, 151780
20: Cadet Grey Act first, scene first. A study. Of a kind 4902200
21: Caldwell of Springfield Here�s the spot. Look around you. Above on the height 351855
22: California Madrigal Oh, come, my beloved, from thy winter abode, 241757
23: California�s Greeting to Seward We know him well: no need of praise 1869 321880
24: Chiquita Beautiful! Sir, you may say so. Thar isn�t her match in the county; 321793
25: Cicely Cicely says you�re a poet; maybe, I ain�t much on rhyme: 561809
26: Concepcion de Arguello Looking seaward, o�er the sand-hills stands the fortress, old and quaint, 941842
27: Coyote Blown out of the prairie in twilight and dew, 161874
28: Crotalus No life in earth, or air, or sky; 481707
29: Dickens in Camp Above the pines the moon was slowly drifting, 401580
30: Dolly Varden Dear Dolly! who does not recall 561744
31: Don Diego of the South Good! said the Padre, believe me still, 981759
32: Dow�s Flat Dow�s flat. That�s its name; And I reckon that you 1856 751813
33: Fate The sky is clouded, the rocks are bare, 121940
34: For the King As you look from the plaza at Leon west 1742020
35: Friar Pedro�s Ride It was the morning season of the year; 1601862
36: Further Language from Truthful James Do I sleep? do I dream? Do I wonder and doubt? 661882
37: Grandmother Tenterden I mind it was but yesterday: 751574
38: Grizzly Coward, of heroic size, 301632
39: Guild�s Signal Two low whistles, quaint and clear: 401523
40: Half an Hour Before Supper So she�s here, your unknown Dulcinea, the lady you met on the train, 282070
41: Her Last Letter June 4th! Do you know what that date means? 1211924
42: Her Letter I�m sitting alone by the fire, 801792
43: His Answer to �Her Letter� Being asked by an intimate party, 721876
44: How are You, Sanitary? Down the picket-guarded lane 321503
45: In the Mission Garden I speak not the English well, but Pachita, 1865 501688
46: In the Tunnel Didn�t know Flynn, Flynn of Virginia, 461743
47: Jack of the Tules Shrewdly you question, Senor, and I fancy 641688
48: Jim Say there! P�r�aps Some on you chaps 581797
49: John Burns of Gettysburg Have you heard the story that gossips tell 1111538
50: Lines to a Portrait, by a Superior Person When I bought you for a song, 561709
51: Lone Mountain This is that hill of awe That Persian Sindbad saw, 241958
52: Luke Wot�s that you�re readin�? a novel? A novel! well, darn my skin! 681826
53: Madrono Captain of the Western wood, 281505
54: Master Johnny�s Next-Door Neighbor It was spring the first time that I saw her, for her papa and mamma moved in 321603
55: Miss Blanche Says And you are the poet, and so you want 1001823
56: Miss Edith Makes Another Friend Oh, you�re the girl lives on the corner? Come in if you want to come quick! 241598
57: Miss Edith Makes It Pleasant for Brother Jack Crying!� Of course I am crying, and I guess you would be crying, too, 241577
58: Miss Edith�s Modest Request My papa knows you, and he says you�re a man who makes reading for books; 441564
59: Mrs. Judge Jenkins Maud Muller all that summer day 481825
60: North Beach Lo! where the castle of bold Pfeiffer throws 261663
61: Off Scarborough Have a care!� the bailiffs cried 1001771
62: On a Cone of the Big Trees Brown foundling of the Western wood, 561897
63: On a Pen of Thomas Starr King This is the reed the dead musician dropped, 201556
64: On the Landing DO you know why they�ve put us in that back room, 421595
65: On William Francis Bartlett O poor Romancer thou whose printed page, 401587
66: Our Privilege Not ours, where battle smoke upcurls, 241431
67: Penelope So you�ve kem �yer agen, And one answer won�t do? 251721
68: Plain Language from Truthful James Which I wish to remark, And my language is plain, 601771
69: Poem We meet in peace, though from our native East 821765
70: Ramon Drunk and senseless in his place, 671765
71: Relieving Guard Came the relief. �What, sentry, ho! 121828
72: San Francisco Serene, indifferent of Fate, 401607
73: Sarah Walker It was very hot. Not a breath of air was stirring throughout the western wing 841773
74: Seventy-Nine Know me next time when you see me, won�t you, old smarty? 441793
75: Songs Without Sense Affection�s charm no longer gilds 491600
76: St. Thomas Very fair and full of promise 581732
77: Telemachus versus Mentor Don�t mind me, I beg you, old fellow, I�ll do very well here alone; 481731
78: The Aged Stranger I was with Grant� the stranger said; 321875
79: The Angelus Bells of the Past, whose long-forgotten music 321821
80: The Babes in the Woods Something characteristic,� eh? 721751
81: The Ballad of Mr. Cooke Where the sturdy ocean breeze 1201786
82: The Ballad of the Emeu Oh, say, have you seen at the Willows so green 481744
83: The Birds of Cirencester Did I ever tell you, my dears, the way 911762
84: The Copperhead There is peace in the swamp where the Copperhead sleeps, 1864 241741
85: The Ghost that Jim Saw Why, as to that, said the engineer, 561673
86: The Goddess Who comes?� The sentry�s warning cry 441600
87: The Hawk�s Nest We checked our pace, the red road sharply rounding; 481763
88: The Heathen Chinee Which I wish to remark, And my language is plain, 1870 601771
89: The Idyl of Battle Hollow No, I won�t, thar, now, so! And it ain�t nothin�, no! 481722
90: The Latest Chinese Outrage It was noon by the sun; we had finished our game, 1121860
91: The Legends of the Rhine Beetling walls with ivy grown, 521442
92: The Lost Galleon In sixteen hundred and forty-one, 1781851
93: The Lost Tails of Miletus High on the Thracian hills, half hid in the billows of clover, 161673
94: The Miracle of Padre Junipero This is the tale that the Chronicle 841731
95: The Mission Bells of Monterey O bells that rang, O bells that sang 211899
96: The Mountain Heart�s-Ease By scattered rocks and turbid waters shifting, 281495
97: The Old Camp-Fire Now shift the blanket pad before your saddle back you fling, 601886
98: The Old Major Explains Well, you see, the fact is, Colonel, I don�t know as I can come: 281834
99: The Return of Belisarius So you�re back from your travels, old fellow, 401661
100: The Reveille Hark! I hear the tramp of thousands, 351547
101: The Ritualist He wore, I think, a chasuble, the day when first we met; 161724
102: The Society Upon the Stanislaus I reside at Table Mountain, and my name is Truthful James; 361839
103: The Spelling Bee at Angels Waltz in, waltz in, ye little kids, and gather round my knee, 841706
104: The Stage-Driver�s Story It was the stage-driver�s story, as he stood with his back to the wheelers, 401734
105: The Station-Master of Lone Prairie An empty bench, a sky of grayest etching, 601903
106: The Tale of a Pony Name of my heroine, simply �Rose;� 1051905
107: The Thought-Reader of Angels We hev tumbled ez dust Or ez worms of the yearth; 651721
108: The Two Ships As I stand by the cross on the lone mountain�s crest, 162104
109: The Willows The skies they were ashen and sober, 811818
110: The Wonderful Spring of San Joaquin Of all the fountains that poets sing, 1031792
111: Thompson of Angels It is the story of Thompson of Thompson, the hero of Angels. 441808
112: To a Sea-Bird Sauntering hither on listless wings, 201584
113: To the Pliocene Skull Speak, O man, less recent! Fragmentary fossil! 481650
114: To The Pliocene Skull Speak, O man less recent! 491151
115: Truthful James to the Editor Which it is not my style 501672
116: Twenty Years Beg your pardon, old fellow! I think 301517
117: What Miss Edith Saw from Her Window Our window�s not much, though it fronts on the street; 561781
118: What the Bullet Sang O Joy of creation To be! O rapture to fly 241660
119: What the Chimney Sang Over the chimney the night-wind sang 241557
120: What the Engines Said What was it the Engines said, 571536
121: What the Wolf Really Said to Little Red Riding-Hood Wondering maiden, so puzzled and fair, 181801




About:
Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.

Life and career

He was born in Albany, New York, on August 25, 1836. He was named Francis Brett Hart after his great-grandfather Francis Brett. When he was young his father changed the spelling of the family name from Hart to Harte. Later, Francis preferred to be known by his middle name, but he spelled it with only one "t", becoming Bret Harte.

An avid reader as a boy, Harte published his first work at age 11, a satirical poem titled "Autumn Musings," now lost. His formal schooling ended when he was 13 in 1849. He moved to California in 1853, later working there in a number of capacities, including miner, teacher, messenger, and journalist. He spent part of his life in the northern California coastal town of Union (now known as Arcata), a settlement on Humboldt Bay that was established as a provisioning center for mining camps in the interior.

The 1860 massacre of between 80 and 200 Wiyots killed at the village of Tutulwat was well documented historically and was reported in San Francisco and New York by Harte. When serving as assistant editor for the Northern Californian, Harte editorialized about the slayings while his boss, Stephen G. Whipple, was temporarily absent, leaving Harte in charge of the paper. Harte published a detailed account condemning the event, writing, "a more shocking and revolting spectacle never was exhibited to the eyes of a Christian and civilized people. Old women wrinkled and decrepit lay weltering in blood, their brains dashed out and dabbled with their long grey hair. Infants scarcely a span long, with their faces cloven with hatchets and their bodies ghastly with wounds." After he published the editorial, his life was threatened and he was forced to flee one month later. Harte quit his job and moved to San Francisco, where an anonymous letter published in a city paper is attributed to him, describing widespread community approval of the massacre. In addition, no one was ever brought to trial, despite the evidence of a planned attack and references to specific individuals, including a rancher named Larabee and other members of the unofficial militia called the Humboldt Volunteers.

Harte married Anna Griswold on August 11, 1862, in San Rafael, California. From the start, the marriage was rocky. Some suggested she was handicapped by extreme jealousy while an early biographer of Harte, Henry C. Merwin, privately concluded that she was "almost impossible to live with".


His first literary efforts, including poetry and prose, appeared in The Californian, an early literary journal edited by Charles Henry Webb. In 1868 he became editor of The Overland Monthly, another new literary magazine, but this one more in tune with the pioneering spirit of excitement in California. His story, "The Luck of Roaring Camp", appeared in the magazine's second issue, propelling Harte to nationwide fame.

When word of Charles Dickens's death reached Bret Harte in July 1870, he immediately sent a dispatch across the bay to San Francisco to hold back the forthcoming publication of his Overland Monthly for twenty-four hours, so that he could compose the poetic tribute, "Dickens in Camp". This work is considered by many of Harte's admirers as his verse masterpiece, for its evident sincerity, the depth of feeling it displays, and the unusual quality of its poetic expression.

Determined to pursue his literary career, in 1871 he and his family traveled back East, to New York and eventually to Boston, where he contracted with the publisher of The Atlantic Monthly for an annual salary of $10,000, "an unprecedented sum at the time." His popularity waned, however, and by the end of 1872 he was without a publishing contract and increasingly desperate. He spent the next few years struggling to publish new work (or republish old), delivering lectures about the gold rush, and even selling an advertising jingle to a soap company.

In 1878 Harte was appointed to the position of United States Consul in the town of Krefeld, Germany and then to Glasgow in 1880. In 1885 he settled in London. During the twenty-four years he spent in Europe, he never abandoned writing, and maintained a prodigious output of stories that retained the freshness of his earlier work. He died in Camberley England in 1902 of throat cancer and is buried at Frimley.

His wife, by then known as Anna Bret Harte, died on August 2, 1920. Despite being married for nearly forty years, the couple lived together for only sixteen of those years.

Criticism

In his Round the World, Andrew Carnegie praised Bret Harte as uniquely American:

A whispering pine of the Sierras transplanted to Fifth Avenue! How could it grow? Although it shows some faint signs of life, how sickly are the leaves! As for fruit, there is none. America had in Bret Harte its most distinctively national poet.

Writing in his autobiography four years after Harte's death, however, Mark Twain characterized him and his writing as insincere. He criticized the miners' dialect used by Harte, claiming it never existed outside of his imagination. Twain accused Harte of borrowing money from his friends with no intent to repay and of financially abandoning his wife and children.

Dramatic and musical adaptations of Harte's work

Several film versions of "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" have been made, including one in 1937 with Preston Foster and another in 1952 with Dale Robertson. Tennessee's Partner (1955) with John Payne and Ronald Reagan was based on a story of the same name. Paddy Chayefsky's treatment of the film version of Paint Your Wagon seems to borrow from "Tennessee's Partner": two close friends�one named "Pardner"�share the same woman. The spaghetti western Four of the Apocalypse is based on "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" and "The Luck of Roaring Camp".
Operas based on "The Outcasts of Poker Flat" include those by Samuel Adler and by Stanford Beckler.

Other works

Plain Language from Truthful James, known also as The Heathen Chinee, was a satire of racial prejudice in northern California, but was embraced by the American public as a mockery of Chinese immigrants, and shaped anti-Chinese sentiment more than any other work at the time.
The Stolen Cigar-Case, featuring ace detective "Hemlock Jones", was praised by Ellery Queen as "probably the best parody of Sherlock Holmes ever written".
The Society upon the Stanislaus is a tragicomic poem, like Plain Language from Truthful James set in the northern California mining camps, and told by the same narrator, "Truthful James".
The Beulah song "Ballad of the Lonely Argonaut" references "The Luck of Roaring Camp" and "Outcasts of Poker Flat" and asks, "How does it feel to roam this land like Harte and Twain did?"
Nord-Amerika, seine St�dte und Naturwunder, sein Land und seine Leute was authored by Austrian Ernst von Hesse-Wartegg, with contributions by others including Harte.

Legacy

Bret Harte High School in Angels Camp, California
Bret Harte Lane in Humboldt Hill, California is named after him.
Bret Harte Elementary School in Chicago, Illinois
Bret Harte Middle School in San Jose, California
Bret Harte Middle School in Oakland, California
Bret Harte Middle School in Hayward, California
Bret Harte High School in Altaville, California is named after him and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005
Bret Harte Elementary in Cherry Hill, New Jersey
A community called The Shores of Poker Flat, California claims to have been the location of Poker Flat, although it is usually accepted that the story takes place further north.
Bret Harte Road in Frimley (the town in which Harte was buried) is named after him.
Bret Harte Place in San Francisco, California is named after him.
In 1987 he appeared on a $5 U.S. Postage stamp, as part of the "Great Americans series" of issues.[16]
Bret Harte Lane, Bret Harte Road, and Harte Ave in San Rafael, California.
Bret Harte House, at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.
Bret Harte Park in Danville, California.
The town of Twain Harte, California, is named after Mark Twain and Bret Harte.


Source:- Wikipedia

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