Alan Mays' photos with the keyword: poetry

"Remember when I called you mine in 1909." A 1909 postcard with a rhymed New Year's greeting. It looks like those are light bulbs forming "1909," judging by the yellow glow and golden rays emanating from each of the numbers. For a similar card in which the artist used flowers instead of light bulbs, see I'll Be Yours If You'll Be Mine in 1909 .

A small Victorian-era Christmas card featuring a fairy and flowers. The verse on the card appears in J. S. Ogilvie, compiler, The Album Writer's Friend: Comprising More Than Three Hundred Choice Selections of Poetry and Prose, Suitable for Writing in Autograph Albums, Valentines, Birthday, Christmas, and New Year Cards (1881), p. 60. A Merry Christmas Christmas comes, let every heart In Christmas customs bear its part: The old be young, the sad be gay And smiles chase every care away.

"A heart and a hand, / All thy own to the last. Th. Moore." Postmarked in Ellicottville, N.Y., March 16, 1909. The couplet on this postcard is from a poem, "Come, Rest in This Bosom," by the Irish poet Thomas Moore .

This vinegar valentine is a postcard that was addressed to H. W. Booser, 13th Street, Harrisburg, Pa. The card was postmarked first in Lewisberry, Pa., and then a second time in Harrisburg, Pa., on Feb. 14, 1908. Although the postcard was sent anonymously with no message or signature, it's possible that the recipient recognized the sender by the postmark or through the handwriting of the address. As it turns out, Harry W. Booser lived at 121 N. 13th Street in Harrisburg, and he worked as a salesman, so the vinegary humor of the card was apparently directed at him. The Salesman His motto is still do or die And he nags you until you must buy. His line is complete And his nerve hard to beat But sometimes he goes on the fly. Signs, etc., in illustration: Office. This is our busy day. Samples. This way out. 85% discount to jobbers. Expense account.

A Thanksgiving greeting card with Art Deco design and color, dating to the late 1920s or early 1930s. A Thanksgiving Wish May this Thanksgiving bring to you A harvest without measure: Good cheer and joy and friendships true And every kind of pleasure!

Consider yourself quite lucky, That you're far away in camp: If you were here in State College, Pa., You might get what I gave this stamp! Looks like that stamp is getting a licking , though I suppose she could be giving it a kiss.

On Hallowe'en be wary and look about The gobble-uns will git you ef you don't watch out! A Halloween postcard illustrated by H. B. Griggs. The lines about the "gobble-uns" are from " Little Orphant Annie " (1885), a poem by James Whitcomb Riley. For another Griggs card, see Have a Devilishly Happy Halloween .

A Halloween postcard, circa 1920s. Hallowe'en Greetings When the candles flicker When the wind goes woo-oo May it mean a fortune Mighty good for you.

An early twentieth-century postcard with a parody of the well-known nursery rhyme. Mary and Her Little Lamb Mary had a little lamb You've often heard it said The lamb that Mary took to school Was on a slice of bread. Blackboard: The dog and cat / a big rat.

A lemony postcard from 1906 that was connected to the "23 skidoo" fad that was popular at the time (notice the "23" on the hat or whatever it is that's on top of the lemon's head). To find out what lemons meant in the early twentieth century and how they were connected to 23 skidoo, see Skidoo 23 Is Now 37 . For more postcards, see my 23 Skidoo and Lemons Too album. The Lemon Oh, something that's yellow and egg-shape, not round! You buy by the dozen, in crates they are found; Oh, something that's handed out freely each day, "For yours" this portrait now comes to say.

An unused postcard with no postmark or anything else to indic8 a d8. I do not hesist8 to st8 I'll see you at an early d8-- The day I can not indic8-- But even if the trains are l8, Or if they raise the railroad r8, Or I'm forced to go by fr8, I'll see you soon, as sure as f8.

Here's a wireless telegram That I will send to you I'm in love with you—I am I love you 'deed I do Be my valentine. R. F. Outcault Cartoonist Richard F. Outcault (1863-1928) featured Buster Brown and his dog Tige—both of them winking and smiling—in this valentine from 1904.

This is the season the maidens dream Things of future unforeseen. Dream sweet dreams, oh! ladies fair; But of the future have a care! A postcard addressed on the other side to my grandmother, "Miss Annie Sturtz, Fairhope Boswell, Pa." (I'm not exactly certain where my grandmother lived at the time and why Fairhope was crossed out and Boswell written in). There are two postmarks--one from Somerset, Pa., and another from Fairhope, Pa.--both dated Oct. 29, 1908. The handwritten message on the back of the card is "Annie taking warning. B." My grandmother evidently didn't heed the warning from the unnamed "B." and married my grandfather a year later.

Visit our Sunday-School Air Port; come on a glorious flight Far to the lands of the Bible, shining in radiant light. Straight through the heaven of beauty bathed in the sunshine of love, Come on a tour of the Bible all other journeys above! Airships are waiting and ready, the pilots are steady and true; Off we are starting next Sunday, and here is a ticket for you! Handwritten at the bottom: "Zion Lutheran Sunday School, E. Petersburg, Penna., October 27, 1929." Printed on the other side: "Here's your pass for the take-off next Sunday!" Handwritten address on the other side: "Misses Stella and Martha Weaver, R.D. #1, Manheim, Penna." Postmarked: East Petersburg, Pa., Oct 23, 1929.

"A Merry Christmas. The world is mine, this night I think / Said jolly St. Nick with a knowing wink. / For the children all say that where're I stop / I leave pretty presents fresh from the shop."

Although this postcard--with a postmark dated February 13, 1911--is intended to convey a patriotic sentiment, the idea of Cupid kneeling down and holding up what appears to be a still-steaming heart makes it feel too much like a sacrificial offering to me. To My Valentine To the banner above I surrender with glee, My heart and my love; Dearest Sweetheart for thee.

A die-cut Valentine greeting card with a suffragette girl giving a soapbox speech about women's voting rights . It wasn't until the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920 that all women in the United States had the right to vote. For another copy of this card, see "No Votes No Hearts," Comic Valentine, ca. 1910-1920 over on Flickr. Votes for Women—No Votes, No Hearts. If words could tell of all the love within this heart of mine. I'd keep on speaking till I'd won you for my Valentine.

Lives of great men all remind us, Life is really not worthwhile, Unless we all can leave behind us, Some excuses for a smile. These women don't look too amused, but someone with a sense of humor must have added the poem to this real photo postcard. These four lines of rhyme appeared in 1905 in The Silly Syclopedia , a book by "Noah Lott" (an entertaining pseudonym for the writer George V. Hobart). The poem turns out to be a parody of the following stanza from " A Psalm of Life ," by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Lives of great men all remind us We can make our lives sublime, And, departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands of time.