Vintage Illustrated Children's Poem: The Queen's Messenger

by Tudor Jenks
"Spider, spinner! ― you're very late!
What do you think will be your fate
Should the Fairy Queen and court arrive
To find the tent you promised to spin
Of the glossiest web at precisely five
Not ready for holding the dances in?
She may change you into a tiny gnat,
Or a fly, or something worse than that!
There's only an hour before the ball
To finish the room for our dance to night,
So that when the dew shall fall
It will spangle all with silver light.
You've wasted time in catching flies ―
I read the truth in your eight green eyes!
To work with a will, for the sun is low,
And soon the moon comes over the hill;
The fairies begin to gather, you know,
As soon as they hear the whippoorwill.
Haste, then; spin! ― or you'll be too late.
The Fairy Queen will never wait;
And unless the pavilion shall be complete,
The nug gray roof with dew pearls spread,
The silken rug for the fairy feet,
Oh, spider! you may quake with dread!"

An illustrated Victorian fantasy poem titled "The Queen's Messenger" written by Tudor Jenks about a spider tasked with spinning a party tent for the Fairy Queen. Great for framed poetry, graphic design, papercrafts, nursery art or scrapbooking projects. You can download the poem in full as a high-res 8" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Vintage Illustrated Children's Poem: Roses Red (Garden-themed Nursery Rhyme & Sheet Music)

ROSES RED
Roses red, roses red,
Whisper how you're growing!
Then I can tell
Dear little Nell,
And we shall both be knowing.

Roses red, roses red,
Some folks say you're fleeting!
But we have come
To take you home,
And keep the summer's greeting.

Roses red, roses red,
Say, why are you dying?
If I could tell
Poor little Nell,
Perhaps 't would stop her crying.

An illustrated children's garden poem originally published in June 1887. It is sung to a little tune which is shown below the drawing of a boy and girl in the garden, gathering roses from a vine that is climbing along a brick wall. Great for framed poetry, graphic design, papercrafts, nursery art or scrapbooking projects. You can find the high-res 6" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Vintage Botanical Illustration & Nature Poem for Altered Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Yellow Rose 2

Antique illustration from The Botanical Magazine of Fortune's Double Yellow rose showing prickles, thorns and bowing stems, as well as flowers being pale in colour, unrecognizable in shape, and hardly likely, in Graham Thomas's words, "to make people blink even today".

Accompanying the yellow rose illustration, you can find a nature poem, simply titled "To Rose" that was written by William T. Saward and published in 1897.

You can download the public domain poem as a high-res 6" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. The vintage botanical illustration can be downloaded as a high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Good for altered art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Illustrated Vintage Poem: The Lights of Home by Helen Marion Burnside

THE LIGHTS OF HOME
by HELEN MARION BURNSIDE

When shades of night are falling
And on the winding road,
With footsteps slow and weary,
The home-bound toilers plod.
How heart and feet grow lighter,
When through the mist and gloom,
With cheery ray across the way,
Shine out the lights of home!
O hallowed, homely beacon,
Where'er our steps may roam,
Shine out and guide, from far and wide,
The wanderers safely home!

When life's brief day is closing,
Its toils and sorrows past,
And when for peaceful slumber
We fold our hands at last,
How softly to our vision,
How sweetly through the gloom,
From mansions fair that wait us there
Will shine the Lights of Home!
O heavenly, homely beacon,
Where'er our feet may roam,
Shine out and guide, from far and wide,
The wanderers safely Home!

Poem originally published August 14, 1897. You can download this poem as a high-res 12" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG (without a watermark) for card making, collage, junk journal or scrapbooking projects here.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poems: The Man in the Sun + Flowers and Weeds

Two vintage nature poems originally published in 1887. The first poem is a short verse called The Man in the Sun written by Jenny Wallis and goes like this:
The man in the sun
Just thought it was fun
To fry a good pan of eels;
When both sides were cooked,
Then at them he looked,
And turned and threw up his heels.
The second poem is called Flowers and Weeds. It was written by George Cooper and goes as follows:
Have you ever heard what the fairies say,
Little girl, little boy? Oh, hear and heed!
For each smile you wear on your face to-day
There's a flower grows; for each frown a weed.

So to make this world like a garden bright,
Little girl, little boy, keep frowns away.
Oh, the loving lips that can say to-night,
We have scattered flowers o'er the earth to-day!
You can download the illustrated poem(s) as a high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

My Photo Journal: Red-winged Blackbird in a Wildflower Meadow

FLOWERS AND WEEDS
by GEORGE COOPER
(originally published March 8, 1887)

HAVE you ever heard what the fairies say,
Little girl, little boy? Oh, hear and heed!
For each smile you wear on your face today
There's a flower grows; for each frown a weed.

So to make this world like a garden bright,
Little girl, little boy, keep frowns away.
Oh, the loving lips that can say tonight,
We have scattered flowers o'er the earth today!

The image above shows a red-winged blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) perched on top of a wildflower stalk (it looks like a goldenrod not yet in bloom).

These throwback photos were taken in 2012 on a walk through the DuPont Gordon Richards Park located near the waterfront in Whitby, Ontario. The park is a great place to spot many diffent types of birds and wildflowers, such as the strikingly pretty but incredibly invasive broad-leaved everlasting-pea or Lathyrus latifolius (below).

I hope you are enjoying beautiful weather where you are and wish you many hours of walking along happy trails filled with birdsong every step of your way.

Photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Garden Poem: The Rabbit and the Carrot by Jenny Wallis

THE RABBIT AND THE CARROT
by JENNY WALLIS

I SING in rhyme a romance sweet,
A tender tale as e'er you'll meet.
'Tis all about a pretty rabbit;
Our little yard did he inhabit.

Beyond the fence Miss Carrot grew;
Her beauty his attention drew.
He daily thought, "Would I were able
To reach that lovely vegetable!"

He tried each space; found all too small;
Beneath there was no room to crawl.
Then off he tore a cabbage leaf,
And on it wrote his tender grief.

Then through the fence he tossed the note,
And to her feet he saw it float;
On which she read, with great surprise,
Words that were very far from wise.

She saw full well that he would win her,
Only to make on her his dinner;
So said, "Kind sir, your note I've seen;
But, pardon me, I'm far from green."

A humourous garden poem originally published March 8, 1887. If you would like to download the illustrated poem as a high-res 5.5" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark, you can find it here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Nature Poem: January by Frank Dempster Sherman

Here is another winter poem (also entitled "January"), written by poet, architect, genealogist, and mathematician Frank Dempster Sherman. This short work originally appeared in the January 10, 1888 issue of Harper's Young People magazine.

JANUARY
by FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN (1860–1916)

JANUARY, bleak and drear,
First arrival of the year,
Named for Janus ― Janus who
Fable says has faces two ―
Pray is that the reason why
Yours is such a fickle sky?
First you smile, and to us bring
Dreams of the returning spring;
Then, without a sign, you frown,
And the snow-flakes hurry down,
Making all the landscape white,
Just as if it blanched with fright.
You obey no word or law:
Now you freeze, and then you thaw,
Teasing all the brooks that run
With the hope of constant sun,
Chaining all their feet at last
Firm in icy fetters fast.
Month of all months most contrary,
Sweet and bitter January!

I have paired the poem with a vintage wallpaper texture in the preview image above. If you would like to download the high-res 7" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark, you can find it here. You can also find the black and white illustrated poem without the vintage paper texture here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Nature Poem: January by Mary Rowles Jarvis (Part 2)

Here is a winter poem, originally published in 1896, that depicts the month of January as a fierce warrior king whose strength is tempered with a kind heart.

"JANUARY"
by Mary Rowles Jarvis
(Part 2)

His rod of iron, outstretched upon the land,
Arrests the stir and music of the rills;
Again the rushing rains of his right hand
Lay bare the lasting hills.

Yet fear we not this warrior, fierce and bold,
The year has turned, the light shall lengthen soon;
The onslaught of his keen, relentless cold
Shall make straight paths for June.

His ways are stern, his meanings are benign;
Behold, unharmed, the snowdrop on his crest,
While the gold splendour of the celandine
Shines starlike on his breast!

You can find PART 1 here.

The painting above is called "Winter Landscape" by Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé (1874 – 1939). You can find the image of the original painting on Wikimedia here and my digitally enhanced version of the painting here.

If you would like to download the poem as it originally appeared in The Girl's Own Paper (as seen above) with its accompanying black and white illustration, you can find the high-res 9" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Nature Poem: January by Mary Rowles Jarvis (Part 1)

Here is a winter poem, originally published in 1896, that depicts the month of January as a stern warrior king, bringing snow and ice in his wake as he rides through the fields.

"JANUARY"
by Mary Rowles Jarvis
(Part 1)

Victorious on the utmost crags of time,
From the dread conflict of the midnight sea,
The first-born month draws near with song and chime,
A monarch great and free!

In the red storm-light of the wintry dawn
We see him stand, austere and tempest-crowned,
With sword and spear on many an ice-field drawn
To work his will profound.

His chariot is the north wind that hath crossed,
By leagues of drift and berg, the Polar main;
His sandals are the ploughshares of the frost
That rend the clods in twain.

Continue to PART 2 here.

The painting above is called "Winter Morning in Engadine" by Ivan Fedorovich Choultsé (1874 – 1939). You can find the image of the original painting on Wikimedia here and my digitally enhanced version of the painting here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Victorian Sheet Music for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Le Papillon et La Rose, 1893

A 19th century French musical composition called "Le Papillon et La Rose" that was originally published in an 1893 issue of La Famille. Download and print for wall art or to use in various altered art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects. You can find the free high-res 8" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.

Below, you can see how I have paired the above sheet music with an antique Redouté illustration that shows a butterfly resting on the leaf of a stalk of roses. You can find the high-res JPEG of that nature illustration here.

If you would like to download the combined illustration and sheet music image, you can find the high-res JPEG here.

From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Whimsical Fairytale Illustration for Collage, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Dahlia Flower Fairy Representing Loveliness, 1867

Thy beauty is as undenied
As the beauty of a star;
And thy heart beats just as equally,
Whate'er thy praises are;
And so long without a parallel
Thy loveliness hath shone,
That, follow'd like the tided moon,
Thou mov'st as calmly on.
― Nathaniel Parker Willis
A fairy tale illustration showing a flower fairy meant to represent the vivacious and exuberant dahlia. The fairy is pictured kicking her heels as she lightheartedly dances with a garland of dahlias that twists and twines around her in a floral S-shape.

Accompanying the illustration is the second stanza of a porm from Nathaniel Parker Willis entitled "To a Belle." You can read this bright and lovely poem in full here. This vintage drawing is originally from a pair of 1867 Victorian advertising cards. You can find the companion card with the modest violet here.

To download the free high-res 5" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark, please click here. Can be used in collage, papercrafts, and scrapbooking projects or simply print and frame for wall art.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Whimsical Fairytale Illustration for Collage, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Violet Flower Fairy Representing Modesty, 1867

Sweet flower, that hides in the shade,
Meet emblem of the modest maid,
Whose virtues, like thy perfumes rare,
Makes home delightful everywhere.
― Sir Walter Scott
A fairy tale illustration showing a flower fairy meant to represent the shy and retiring violet. The fairy is pictured clutching the stems of two clusters of violets growing upwardly in an U-shaped arch. Accompanying the illustration is a short porm from Sir Walter Scott. From a pair of 1867 Victorian advertising cards. You can find the companion card with the lovely dahlia here.

To download the free high-res 5" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark, please click here. Can be used in collage, papercrafts, and scrapbooking projects or simply print and frame for wall art.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poem for Kids: The Birds' Farewell

A vintage nature poem titled "The Birds' Farewell" written in 1888 by O. Herford about birds flying south for winter and saying goodbye to a young girl whose garden they've been in all summer.

You can download this illustrated poem as a free high-res 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG (without a watermark) for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poem for Kids: Mother by M.M.D.

A poem simply entitled "Mother" by M.M.D. (I suspect it is Mary Mapes Dodge), published in October 1877. This is how it goes:
Early one summer morning,
I saw two children pass:
Their footsteps, slow yet lightsome,
Scarce bent the tender grass.

One, lately out of babyhood,
Looked up with eager eyes;
The other watched her wistfully,
Oppressed with smothered sighs.

"See, mother!" cried the little one,
"I gathered them for you?
The sweetest flowers and lilies,
And Mabel has some too."

"Hush, Nelly!" whispered Mabel,
"We have not reached it yet.
Wait till we get there, darling,
It isn't far, my pet."

"Get where?" asked Nelly. "Tell me."
"To the church-yard," Mabel said.
"No! no!" cried little Nelly,
And shook her sunny head.

Still Mabel whispered sadly,
"We must take them to the grave.
Come, darling?" and the childish voice
Tried to be clear and brave.

But Nelly still kept calling
Far up into the blue;
"See, mother, see, how pretty
We gathered them for you."

And when her sister pleaded,
She cried -- and would not go: --
"Angels don't live in church-yards,
My mother don't, I know."

Then Mabel bent and kissed her.
"So be it, dear," she said;
"We'll take them to the arbor
And lay them there instead."

"For mother loved it dearly,
It was the sweetest place!"
And the joy that came to Nelly
Shone up in Mabel's face.

I saw them turn, and follow
A path with blossoms bright,
Until the nodding branches
Concealed them from my sight;

But still like sweetest music
The words came ringing through;
"See, mother, see, how pretty
We gathered them for you."

Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Victorian Sheet Music and Vintage Nature Clipart for Cardmaking, Collage or Scrapbooking: Spring Bird Waltz and Bird with Spring Blossoms

Hello, everyone. Two free graphics this morning:

(1) An illustration from one of my books on wild birds, published in 1901. This bird is called the chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita), its name derived "...from the fancied resemblance of its notes to the words 'chiff chaff,' which are uttered with a quick, clear enunciation; the song is sweet and not unmelodious, and when alarmed the bird has a note of displeasure which sounds something like the word 'whoo-id' or 'whoo-it.'

...considered the earliest of our summer visitors, arriving in this country [England] sometimes in March, and remaining until October; indeed, of all small warblers, it is the first to come and the last to go."

Download the 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

(2) A light-hearted dance tune called "Spring Bird Waltz" from the August 1, 1858 issue of Young Ladies' Journal. You can download this antique sheet music as a 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poem: Each In His Place by Caris Brooke

A Victorian poem from 1893 by Caris Brooke called "Each In His Place." The verses are accompanied by an illustration of a pair of birds up in their nest, snugly anchored to a branch of flowering apple blossoms. Here is how it goes:

Bird, sitting there in the bright sun's ray,
You do nothing but sing all the summer's day,
While I have my lessons to learn.
Now leave your perch on that blossoming spray,
Give me your wings, and in my place stay,
Till I return.

Oh, to fly so far! Oh, to soar so high!
Till I find the gold door in the bright blue sky,
And the way that leads me to the moon;
Then good-bye to lessons, to sums good-bye,
Don't expect me back when I've learned to fly --
At least not soon.

For answer, the bird's song seemed to say,
"Will you do my work while I am away?
Do you know how to build a nest?
Feathers and wool, and dry moss and hay --
Can you fit them in, and make them stay,
If you did your best?

"You must never leave it to romp and play;
You must sit quite still the whole long day,
And not stir a peg.
And before you go, will you kindly say,
If, while you're there, you'll be sure to lay
A little blue egg?"
You can download this poem as a high-res 12" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG (without a watermark) for card making, collage or scrapbooking projects here.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poem A Spring Morning by Anne Beale

From 1880, here is a Victorian poem on aged paper entitled "A Spring Morning" by Anne Beale. Accompanying the poem is a decorative border with an illustration of flower pickers in early spring gathering flowers in the open fields surrounding a big house. There is also a posy of spring flowers embellishing the foreground. The poem goes as follows:

How joyfully the heart doth ring
A merry peal of pleasure
At the nativity of spring,
And the earth's renewing treasure!
How the thoughts leap up, welcoming
The gladsome vernal measure!

The squirrel, in his wild delight,
From branch to branch is springing;
The warbling lark her homeward flight
In ecstasy is winging;
While every mead and grove and height
With joyous song is ringing.

The snowdrop from her winter rest
Is joyously awaking;
The merry primrose bares her breast,
A fill of pleasure taking;
The violet, from her mossy nest,
In loveliness is breaking.

Wandering 'neath the cloudless sky,
The children shout for gladness,
And deem the sun's enkindling eye
An antidote for sadness;
Then would not murmuring needlessly
Be even worse than madness?
You can download a high-res JPEG of the original poem (without a watermark) for card making, collage or scrapbooking projects here.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poem An April Song by an Unknown Author

From 1881, here is a Victorian poem called "An April Song" by an unknown author. Accompanying the poem is a decorative border with an illustration of a blossoming tree and various spring flowers plus a scattering of assorted planting paraphernalia in the garden.

The poem goes as follows:

Earth's heart with gladness glows again,
Gone is all wintry gloom;
The sun peeps through my lattice-pane,
And fills my little room
With life divine, and bids me fly
My books and pens awhile,
To wander forth beneath a sky
That wears an April smile.

Old loves at every step I meet,
Sweet fragrance fills the air;
Such songs of praise that birds repeat,
As move my soul to prayer.
E'en primrose clusters on the banks,
And violets nesting low,
To Him uplift a look of thanks,
From whom all blessings flow.

The hyacinth hangs her languid head,
And waits the gentle May,
Now drawing near with noiseless tread,
To kiss her tears away;
The fields with daisies are besprent,
As white as flakes of snow;
And from the whispering woods are sent
Joy-murmurs, soft and low.

You can download a free 8.5" (w) x 12" (h) @ 300 ppi JPEG of the poem (without a watermark) for collage, graphic design, junk journal or scrapbooking projects here.


Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poem for Kids: Cheery Robin by B. Lander

Image source: Wikimedia
The following is a public domain Victorian children's poem written by B. Lander and originally published in 1880. The poem is called "Cheery Robin" and this is how it goes:

Robin in the April time
Blithely sings of summer prime,
Every mellow note outwelling
Sweetly telling of his glee;
How his merry carol rings!
As he sings,
In the budding April time, -- Cheerily!

Robin in the summer prime,
What cares he for autumn rime!
Present care and present pleasure
Fill the measure of each day;
And his merry carol rings,
While he sings,
In the golden summer prime, -- Cheerily!

Robins in the autumn rime
Singeth of a sunny clime,
Where the bowers glow with flowers,
Where the hours brim with glee.
Still his merry carol rings!
Still he sings,
In the chilly autumn rime, -- Cheerily!

Robin to the aged Year
Sings a parting note of cheer;
Happy heart of sunshine, Robin,
Ever throbbing merrily.
Sweet contentment Robin brings,
When he sings,
With a cadence loud and clear, -- Cheerily!

Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.