Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888):

  Annotated List of Poems

Year Compiled: 1997

Scope

Also, you will notice that a few of the poems listed here are accompanied by the note, "Poem?". These are works for which I have confirmed the title but not the format. Since I believe they most likely are poems, I have placed them in this category and am conducting further research to prove or disprove that assumption. If you know the proper category for any of the works with a "Poem?" note, please contact me. Please also e-mail me if you can confirm or refute any other facts that I have listed with a question mark. Thank you for your patience and your assistance with this work in progress.  --Susan L. Tolbert, M.S.L.I.S.

Louisa May Alcott's Poems

1. A.B.A..  (1919?)
   • Published posthumously?
   • First Published By:  Clara Endicott Sears (Boston) ?
   • (Printed in Sears' Three Unpublished Poems by Louisa May Alcott )
   • Year(s) Written: ?
2. An Advertisement.  (1875)
   • First Published In:  The Woman's Journal
   • Issue:  January 23, 1875  [vol. 6, no. 4]
3. An Autumn Song.  (1866)
   • First Published In:  The Flag of Our Union  (a weekly)
   • Issue:  November 10, 1866  [vol. 21, no. 45]
4. Clover-Blossom.  (1854/1855)
   • First Published By:  Hurst (New York) and George W. Briggs (Boston)
   • In Flower Fables
   • Year(s) Written: 1847-49?
   • Written for Ralph Waldo Emerson's daughter Ellen.
   • Fantasy story in long verse.
5. Despondency.  (1889)
   • First Line: "Silent and sad".
   • Published posthumously.
   • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston)
   • (Printed in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals )
   • Year(s) Written: 1845
   • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Cary Ryan's Louisa May Alcott: Her Girlhood Diary .
6. F.A.P..  (1914?)
   • First Line: "Who likes to read a fairy tale".
   • Published posthumously?
   • First Published By:  Little, Brown (Boston) ?
   • (Printed in Jessie Bonstelle's Little Women Letters from the House of Alcott )
   • Year(s) Written: 1875
   • Written for her nephew Freddieıs twelfth birthday.
   • A poem in eight stanzas.
7. Fairy Firefly.  (1867/1868)
   • Alternate Title:   Fairy Fire-Fly.
   • First Line: "O Firefly! I have caught you fast".
   • First Published By:  Horace B. Fuller (Boston)
   • In Morning-Glories, and Other Stories
   • A poem in one short stanza and one long stanza.
8. Fairy Song.  (1854/1855)
   • First Published By:  Hurst (New York) and George W. Briggs (Boston)
   • In Flower Fables
   • Year(s) Written: 1847-49?
   • Written for Ralph Waldo Emerson's daughter Ellen.
   • A poem in four stanzas.
9. Faith.  (1889)
   • First Line: "Oh, when the heart is full of fears".
   • Published posthumously.
   • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston)
   • (Printed in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals )
   • Year(s) Written: 1850
   • A poem in four stanzas.
10. The Flower's Lesson.  (1854)
    • First Published By:  Crosby, Nichols, & Co. (Boston)
    • In Margaret Lyon, or, A Work for All
    • Year(s) Written: 1847-49?
    • Reprinted with a few revisions in Flower Fables
    • Written for Ralph Waldo Emerson's daughter Ellen.
    • Fantasy story in long verse.
11. Goldfin and Silvertail.  (1867/1868)
    • First Line: "Little Bessie lay in a rocky nook".
    • First Published By:  Horace B. Fuller (Boston)
    • In Morning-Glories, and Other Stories
    • Fantasy story in long verse.
12. The Hawthorne.  (1977?)
    • First Line: "The Hawthorne is a gracious tree".
    • Published posthumously.
    • First Published By:  Houghton Mifflin (Boston) ?
    • Year(s) Written: 1862
    • Written in 1862 as a thank-you for birthday presents received from her neighbors, the Hawthornes.
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Louisa May Alcott: An Intimate Anthology and in Martha Saxton's Louisa May: A Modern Biography of Louisa May Alcott .
    • A poem in seven stanzas.
13. In the Garret.  (1865)
    • First Line: "Four little chests all in a row".
    • First Published In:  The Flag of Our Union  (a weekly)
    • Issue:  March 18, 1865  [vol. 20, no. 11]
    • Also appears in Little Women, Part Second (chapter 46), with substantial revision.
    • A poem in six long stanzas.
14. The Lay of a Golden Goose.  (1886?)
    • Subtitle:   An Autobiographical Poem.
    • First Line: "Long ago in a poultry yard".
    • First Published In:  The Woman's Journal ?
    • Issue:  May 8, 1886  [vol. 17, no. 19]
    • Year(s) Written: 1870
    • Written while she was in Bex, Switzerland.
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, published in book form by Orchard House (Concord, Massachusetts), in 1987.
    • An autobiographical fantasy story in long, rhyming verse (31 stanzas).
15. A Little Grey Curl.  (1919?)
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Clara Endicott Sears (Boston) ?
    • (Printed in Sears' Three Unpublished Poems by Louisa May Alcott )
    • Year(s) Written: ?
16. Little Nell?  (1856)
    • First Published In:  Courier 
    • A poem about Nell Trent, the main character in Dickens' fourth novel, The Old Curiosity Shop.
17. Little Paul.  (1856)
    • First Published In:  Saturday Evening Gazette  (a weekly)
    • Issue:  April 19, 1856  [quarto, no. 16]
    • A poem about Paul Dombey,a character in Dickens' Dombey and Son.
18. Lullaby.  (1863?)
    • First Line: "Now the day is done".
    • First Published By:  James Redpath (Boston) ?
    • In The Rose Family 
    • A poem in four stanzas.
19. Merry Christmas.  (1876)
    • First Line: "In the rush of early morning".
    • First Published By:  William F. Gill (Boston)
    • In The Horn of Plenty of Home Poems and Home Pictures 
    • A poem in four stanzas.
20. The Mother-Moon.  (1856)
    • First Published In:  Saturday Evening Gazette  (a weekly)
    • Issue:  August 23, 1856  [quarto, no. 34]
    • Part of a collection entitled, Beach Bubbles .
21. My Doves.  (1868)
    • First Published In:  Merry's Museum  (children's magazine)
    • Issue:  March, 1868  [vol. 1, no. 3]
22. My Kingdom.  (1875)
    • Alternate Title:  My Little Kingdom.
    • First Line: "A little kingdom I possess".
    • First Published By:  William A. Pond (New York)
    • In The Sunny Side: A Book of Religious Songs for the Sunday School and the Home , ed. by Charles William Wendte and H. S. Perkins (arranged to the music of A. P. Howard).
    • Also appears in Under the Lilacs (chapter 11), with slight revision.
    • Year(s) Written: 1843?/1845?/1846?/1847?
    • A poem in four stanzas.
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Cary Ryan's Louisa May Alcott: Her Girlhood Diary .
23. My Prayer.  (1889?)
    • First Line: "Courage and patience, these I ask".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston) ?
    • (Printed in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals .)
    • Year(s) Written: 1886
    • A poem in six stanzas.
    • The last poem she wrote.
24. The Nautilus.  (1867/1868)
    • Subtitle:  A Fairy Boat-Song.
    • First Line: "Launch our boat from the yellow sand"
    • First Published By:  Horace B. Fuller (Boston)
    • In Morning-Glories, and Other Stories
    • A poem in four stanzas.
25. Our Angel in the House.  (1869?)
    • Alternate Title:  My Beth.
    • First Line: "Sitting patient in the shadow"
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston) ?
    • In Little Women, Part Second (chapter 40), under alternate title (above).
    • Year(s) Written: 1858
    • A poem in five stanzas.
26. Our Little Ghost.  (1866)
    • First Line: "Oft, in the silence of the night".
    • First Published In:  The Flag of Our Union  (a weekly)
    • Issue:  September 15, 1866  [vol. 21, no. 37]
    • A poem in seven stanzas.
27. Our Madonna.  (1997?)
    • First Line: "A child, her wayward pencil drew".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Doubleday (New York) ?
    • In Louisa May Alcott: An Intimate Anthology ?
    • Year(s) Written: 1880
    • About her youngest sister, May, who had just passed away.
    • A poem in eight stanzas.
28. Peep! Peep! Peep!.  (1867/1868)
    • First Line: "Oh! Merry is the life".
    • First Published By:  Horace B. Fuller (Boston)
    • In Morning-Glories, and Other Stories
    • A poem in four stanzas.
29. The Rock and the Bubble.  (1858)
    • First Line: "Oh! a bare, brown rock".
    • First Published In:  The Little Pilgrim
    • Issue:  September, 1858  [vol. 5, no. 9]
    • Reprinted with a few revisions in her short story, Fancy's Friend
    • A poem in twenty stanzas.
30. The Sanitary Fair.  (1865)
    • First Published In:  The Flag of Our Union  (a weekly)
    • Issue:  April 22, 1865  [vol. 20, no. 16]
31. A Song for a Christmas Tree.  (1867)
    • Alternate Title:  A Christmas Song.
    • First Line: "Cold and wintry is the sky".
    • First Published In:  Merry's Museum and Woodworth's Cabinet  (children's magazine)
    • Issue:  December, 1867  [vol. 54, no. 6 (Old Series) / vol. 24, no. 12 (New Series)]
    • Page Number(s):  179.
    • Reprinted in Morning-Glories, and Other Stories
    • A poem in four stanzas.
32. A Song for Little Freddie on his Third Birthday.  (1914?)
    • First Line: "Down in the field".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Little, Brown (Boston) ?
    • (Printed in Jessie Bonstelle's Little Women Letters from the House of Alcott )
    • Year(s) Written: 1866
    • A poem in six stanzas.
33. A Song from the Suds.  (1868?)
    • First Line: "Queen of my tub, I merrily sing"
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston) ?
    • In Little Women, Part First (chapter 16).
    • Year(s) Written: 1847?/1848?
    • Based on Jonathan Swiftıs A Tale of a Tub .
    • A poem in four stanzas.
34. Songs from a Sea-Shell.  (1858)
    • Subtitle:  The Patient Drop.
    • First Published In:  The Little Pilgrim
    • Issue:  April, 1858  [vol. 5, no. 4]
35. Sunlight.  (1851)
    • First Line: "It comes from its far away home in the sky"
    • First Published In:  Peterson's Magazine
    • Issue:  September, 1851  [vol. 20, no. 3]
    • Page Number(s):  110.
    • Authored under pseudonym, "Flora Fairfield".
    • Her first published work.
    • A poem in five stanzas.
36. Thoreau's Flute.  (1863)
    • First Line: "We sighing said, 'Our Pan is dead'".
    • First Published In:  The Atlantic Monthly  (magazine)
    • Issue:  September, 1863  [vol. 12, no. 71]
    • Authored anonymously.
    • A poem in four stanzas.
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Martha Saxton's Louisa May: A Modern Biography of Louisa May Alcott .
37. To Anna.  (1889)
    • First Line: "Sister, dear, when you are lonely".
    • Published posthumously.
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston)
    • (Printed in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals )
    • Year(s) Written: 1844
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Cary Ryan's Louisa May Alcott: Her Girlhood Diary .
38. To Father.  (1914?)
    • First Line: "A cloth on the table where dear Plato sits".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Little, Brown (Boston) ?
    • (Printed in Jessie Bonstelle's Little Women Letters from the House of Alcott )
    • Year(s) Written: 1851
    • Written for her fatherıs 52nd birthday.
39. To Mother.  (1889)
    • First Line: "I hope that soon, dear mother".
    • Published posthumously.
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston)
    • (Printed in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals )
    • Year(s) Written: 1843
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Cary Ryan's Louisa May Alcott: Her Girlhood Diary .
40. To My Father, on His 86th Birthday.  (1885)
    • First Line: "Dear Pilgrim, waiting patiently".
    • First Published In:  The Woman's Journal
    • Issue:  December 12, 1885  [vol. 16, no. 50]
    • A poem in four stanzas.
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Martha Saxton's Louisa May: A Modern Biography of Louisa May Alcott .
41. To Papa.  (1919?)
    • First Line: "In high Olympus' sacred shade".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Clara Endicott Sears (Boston) ?
    • (Printed in Sears' Three Unpublished Poems by Louisa May Alcott )
    • Year(s) Written: 1887?
    • Written for her fatherıs 88th birthday?
42. To the First Robin.  (1889)
    • First Line: "Welcome, welcome, little stranger".
    • Published posthumously.
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston)
    • (Printed in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals )
    • Year(s) Written: 1840
    • A poem in two stanzas.
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Cary Ryan's Louisa May Alcott: Her Girlhood Diary .
43. Transfiguration.  (1878)
    • Subtitle:   In Memoriam.
    • First Line: "Mysterious Death! who in a single hour".
    • Series: "No Name Series" (anonymous books by popular authors)
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston)
    • (Printed in George Parsons Lathrop's A Masque of Poets )
    • Page Number(s):  164-66.
    • Authored anonymously.
    • About her mother, who had passed away a few months prior.
    • A poem in twelve stanzas.
44. Untitled.  (1990?)
    • First Line: "Far away there in the sunshine".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  McFarland & Co. (Jefferson, North Carolina) ?
    • (Printed in Gloria Delamar's Louisa May Alcott and "Little Women" )
    • Year(s) Written: ?
45. Untitled.  (1914?)
    • First Line: "God comfort thee dear mother".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Little, Brown (Boston) ?
    • (Printed in Jessie Bonstelle's Little Women Letters from the House of Alcott )
    • Year(s) Written: 1845?
    • A poem in three stanzas.
46. Untitled.  (1988?)
    • First Line: "The great deep heart that was a home for all".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Samuel E. Cassino (Boston) ?
    • (Printed in Lurabel Harlow's Louisa May Alcott: A Souvenir" )
    • Page Number(s):  28.
    • Year(s) Written: ?
47. Untitled.  (1893?)
    • First Line: "Philosophers Sit in Their Sylvan Hall"
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  The New England Magazine Corporation ?
    • (Printed in Maria Porter's Recollections on Louisa May Alcott, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Robert Browning, together with several memorial poems )
    • Year(s) Written: ?
    • About the summer operation of her father's Concord School of Philosophy.
48. Untitled.  (1889)
    • First Line: "Softly doth the sun descend".
    • Published posthumously.
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston)
    • (Printed in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals )
    • Year(s) Written: 1843
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Cary Ryan's Louisa May Alcott: Her Girlhood Diary .
49. Untitled.  (1915?)
    • First Line: "There is a town of high repute"
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  The Union Press ?
    • (Printed in Lilian Whiting's Women Who Have Ennobled Life )
    • Year(s) Written: ?
50. Untitled.  (1914?)
    • First Line: "Two pair of blue hose".
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  Little, Brown (Boston) ?
    • (Printed in Jessie Bonstelle's Little Women Letters from the House of Alcott )
    • Year(s) Written: Mid to Late 1860s?
    • Written to accompany her gift of blue stockings to her baby nephew John.
51. A Wail Uttered in the Womanıs Club.  (1893?)
    • First Line: "God bless you, merry ladies"
    • Published posthumously?
    • First Published By:  The New England Magazine Corporation ?
    • (Printed in Maria Porter's Recollections on Louisa May Alcott, John Greenleaf Whittier, and Robert Browning, together with several memorial poems )
    • Year(s) Written: Late 1870s or Early 1880s?
    • A poem in eleven uneven stanzas.
52. What Polly Found in Her Stocking.  (1868)
    • First Published In:  Merry's Museum  (children's magazine)
    • Issue:  January, 1868  [vol. 1, no. 1]
53. Where Is Bennie?.  (1868)
    • First Published In:  Merry's Museum  (children's magazine)
    • Issue:  February, 1868  [vol. 1, no. 2]
54. Winter.  (1889)
    • First Line: "The stormy winter's come at last".
    • Published posthumously.
    • First Published By:  Roberts Brothers (Boston)
    • (Printed in Ednah D. Cheney's Louisa May Alcott: Her Life, Letters, and Journals )
    • Year(s) Written: 1845
    • A reprint is available for modern-day reading, in Cary Ryan's Louisa May Alcott: Her Girlhood Diary .
55. Wishes.  (1868)
    • First Published In:  Merry's Museum  (children's magazine)
    • Issue:  January, 1868  [vol. 1, no. 1]
56. With a Rose That Bloomed on the Day of John Brown's Martyrdom.  (1860)
    • First Line: "In the long silence of the night".
    • First Published In:  The Liberator
    • Issue:  January 20, 1860  [vol. 30, no. 3]
    • Composed for the funeral of Captain John Brown, in December 1859.

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