Happy New Year 2014: 5 Poems To Kick Off The New Year

2014 is upon us at last. January 1 is a good day to reflect on the year that was and look forward at what is to come. And what better way to reflect and ponder than with some poetic words from some great writers to help you mull over your 2013 and find inspiration for 2014. The New Year has provided inspiration for poets for centuries: it is a time of rebirth, celebration and reinvention. So below are 5 Poems to Kick Off The New Year.

Alfred Lord Tennyson was one of the greatest poets of the 19th Century. Poet laureate in Grat Britain under Queen Victoria, he is one of the most quoted poets - many of his verses have become part of everyday language. "In Memoriam" was written after his friend Arthur Henry Hallam passed away. It is a beautiful lyrical poem which asks us to ring out the old, the dark and the sad and cherish the new, the brave and the great. Though it is a sad poem, it is also an inspirational work.

"A Song For New Year's Eve" by William Cullen Bryant is a sweet, delightful way to think about the New Year: it perfectly captures the New Years Eve spirit as we rejoice with our friends to bring in the New Year and forget the old. Kobayashi Issa's little Haiku is a funny, poignant reminder of the disappointments that can also come with a new year. Thomas Hardy's "At The Entering of the New Year" expresses with profound lyricism the sentiments of New Year's Eve revellers, while "The Old Year" by John Clare reminds us how to forget the old year in favor of the new. Enjoy!

In Memoriam, [Ring out, wild bells]

by Alfred Lord Tennyson

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,

The flying cloud, the frosty light:

The year is dying in the night;

Ring out, wild bells, and let him die -

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife;
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweeter manners, purer laws.

Ring out the want, the care, the sin,
The faithless coldness of the times;
Ring out, ring out my mournful rhymes
But ring the fuller minstrel in.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

A Song for New Year's Eve

by William Cullen Bryant

Stay yet, my friends, a moment stay—
Stay till the good old year,
So long companion of our way,
Shakes hands, and leaves us here.
Oh stay, oh stay,
One little hour, and then away.

The year, whose hopes were high and strong,
Has now no hopes to wake;
Yet one hour more of jest and song
For his familiar sake.
Oh stay, oh stay,
One mirthful hour, and then away.

The kindly year, his liberal hands
Have lavished all his store.
And shall we turn from where he stands,
Because he gives no more?
Oh stay, oh stay,
One grateful hour, and then away.

Days brightly came and calmly went,
While yet he was our guest;
How cheerfully the week was spent!
How sweet the seventh day's rest!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One golden hour, and then away.

Dear friends were with us, some who sleep
Beneath the coffin-lid:
What pleasant memories we keep
Of all they said and did!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One tender hour, and then away.

Even while we sing, he smiles his last,
And leaves our sphere behind.
The good old year is with the past;
Oh be the new as kind!
Oh stay, oh stay,
One parting strain, and then away.

New Year's Day

by Kobayashi Issa

New Year's Day-- everything is in blossom! I feel about average. -

At The Entering of the New Year

by Thomas Hardy

Our songs went up and out the chimney,
And roused the home-gone husbandmen;
Our allemands, our heys, poussettings,
Our hands-across and back again,
Sent rhythmic throbbings through the casements
On to the white highway,
Where nighted farers paused and muttered,
"Keep it up well, do they!"

The contrabasso's measured booming
Sped at each bar to the parish bounds,
To shepherds at their midnight lambings,
To stealthy poachers on their rounds;
And everybody caught full duly
The notes of our delight,
As Time unrobed the Youth of Promise
Hailed by our sanguine sight.

The Old Year

by John Clare

The Old Year's gone away
To nothingness and night:
We cannot find him all the day
Nor hear him in the night:
He left no footstep, mark or place
In either shade or sun:
The last year he'd a neighbour's face,
In this he's known by none.

All nothing everywhere:
Mists we on mornings see
Have more of substance when they're here
And more of form than he.
He was a friend by every fire,
In every cot and hall--
A guest to every heart's desire,
And now he's nought at all.

Old papers thrown away,
Old garments cast aside,
The talk of yesterday,
Are things identified;
But time once torn away
No voices can recall:
The eve of New Year's Day
Left the Old Year lost to all.

Image Courtesy of Shutterstock.