Famous March Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous March poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous march poems. These examples illustrate what a famous march poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario's Shores

...e; 
Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America—chant me
 the
 carol of victory; 
And strike up the marches of Libertad—marches more powerful yet;
And sing me before you go, the song of the throes of Democracy. 

(Democracy—the destin’d conqueror—yet treacherous lip-smiles everywhere, 
And Death and infidelity at every step.) 

2
A Nation announcing itself, 
I myself make the only growth by which I can be appreciated,
I reject none, accept all, then reprod...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt


Beowulf (Modern English)

...hichever beloved man,
of your right-performing troop, across the deep currents
the wood winding-necked, unto Wederish marches,
as it is given to escape, unharmed, the battle-rush.” (ll.286-300)

So they turned themselves to go. Their float awaited them
in its mooring, swaying on the sea, fast at anchor,
the broad-bosomed boat. Helmets shone boar-fashioned
over cheek-guards, adorned with gold,
flecked and fire-hardened—the masked man,
war-minded held the life-warden....Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Beowulf (Old English)

...nd revel
a winsome life, till one began
to fashion evils, that field of hell.
Grendel this monster grim was called,
march-riever {1e} mighty, in moorland living,
in fen and fastness; fief of the giants
the hapless wight a while had kept
since the Creator his exile doomed.
On kin of Cain was the killing avenged
by sovran God for slaughtered Abel.
Ill fared his feud, {1f} and far was he driven,
for the slaughter’s sake, from sight of men.
Of Cain awoke all that wofu...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Lara

...hate: 
Hard is the task their fatherland to quit, 
But harder still to perish or submit. 

XII. 

It is resolved — they march — consenting Night 
Guides with her star their dim and torchless flight; 
Already they perceive its tranquil beam 
Sleep on the surface of the barrier stream; 
Already they descry — Is yon the bank? 
Away! 'tis lined with many a hostile rank. 
Return or fly! — What glitters in the rear? 
'Tis Otho's banner — the pursuer's spear! 
Are those the shepherd...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Last Instructions to a Painter

...n an English senate, fierce debate 
Could raise so long for this new whore of state. 

Of early wittols first the troop marched in-- 
For diligence renowned and discipline-- 
In loyal haste they left young wives in bed, 
And Denham these by one consent did head. 
Of the old courtiers, next a squadron came, 
That sold their master, led by Ashburnham. 
To them succeeds a desipicable rout, 
But know the word and well could face about; 
Expectants pale, with hopes of spoil allure...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew


Paradise Lost: Book 02

...iscover wide 
That dismal world, if any clime perhaps 
Might yield them easier habitation, bend 
Four ways their flying march, along the banks 
Of four infernal rivers, that disgorge 
Into the burning lake their baleful streams-- 
Abhorred Styx, the flood of deadly hate; 
Sad Acheron of sorrow, black and deep; 
Cocytus, named of lamentation loud 
Heard on the rueful stream; fierce Phlegeton, 
Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage. 
Far off from these, a slow and silen...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 05

...dim night 
Her shadowy cloud withdraws, I am to haste, 
And all who under me their banners wave, 
Homeward, with flying march, where we possess 
The quarters of the north; there to prepare 
Fit entertainment to receive our King, 
The great Messiah, and his new commands, 
Who speedily through all the hierarchies 
Intends to pass triumphant, and give laws. 
So spake the false Arch-Angel, and infused 
Bad influence into the unwary breast 
Of his associate: He together calls, 
Or...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Ravenna

...reathed the Italian air, -
And yet, methinks this northern Spring is fair,-
These fields made golden with the flower of March,
The throstle singing on the feathered larch,
The cawing rooks, the wood-doves fluttering by,
The little clouds that race across the sky;
And fair the violet's gentle drooping head,
The primrose, pale for love uncomforted,
The rose that burgeons on the climbing briar,
The crocus-bed, (that seems a moon of fire
Round-girdled with a purple marriage-ring)...Read more of this...
by Wilde, Oscar

Salut au Monde

...of the Cossack, and the sailor’s voice, putting to sea at Okotsk; 
I hear the wheeze of the slave-coffle, as the slaves march on—as the husky gangs pass on
 by
 twos
 and threes, fasten’d together with wrist-chains and ankle-chains; 
I hear the entreaties of women tied up for punishment—I hear the sibilant whisk of thongs
 through
 the air; 
I hear the Hebrew reading his records and psalms;
I hear the rhythmic myths of the Greeks, and the strong legends of the Romans; 
I hear...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Song of Myself

...is is the common air that bathes the globe. 

18
With music strong I come—with my cornets and my drums, 
I play not marches for accepted victors only—I play great marches for
 conquer’d and slain persons. 

Have you heard that it was good to gain the day?
I also say it is good to fall—battles are lost in the same spirit in which
 they are won. 

I beat and pound for the dead; 
I blow through my embouchures my loudest and gayest for them. 

Vivas to those who hav...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Ballad of the White Horse

...ky
And whoso hearkened right
Could only hear the plunging
Of the nations in the night.

When the ends of the earth came marching in
To torch and cresset gleam.
And the roads of the world that lead to Rome
Were filled with faces that moved like foam,
Like faces in a dream.

And men rode out of the eastern lands,
Broad river and burning plain;
Trees that are Titan flowers to see,
And tiger skies, striped horribly,
With tints of tropic rain.

Where Ind's enamelled peaks arise
Ar...Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K

The Comedian As The Letter C

...it grew to be 
448 A long soothsaying silence down and down. 
449 The crickets beat their tambours in the wind, 
450 Marching a motionless march, custodians. 

451 In the presto of the morning, Crispin trod, 
452 Each day, still curious, but in a round 
453 Less prickly and much more condign than that 
454 He once thought necessary. Like Candide, 
455 Yeoman and grub, but with a fig in sight, 
456 And cream for the fig and silver for the cream, 
457 A blonde to tip...Read more of this...
by Stevens, Wallace

The Everlasting Mercy

..."Adam was a ploughman." 
There came such cawing from the rooks, 
Such running chuck from little brooks, 
One thought it March, just budding green, 
With hedgerows full of celandine. 
An otter' out of stream and played, 
Two hares come loping up and stayed; 
Wide-eyed and tender-eared but bold. 
Sheep bleated up from Penny's fold. 
I heard a partridge covey call, 
The morning sun was bright on all. 
Down the long slope the plough team drove 
The tossing rooks arose and hove. 
...Read more of this...
by Masefield, John

The Growth of Love

...annot stir her golden freight. 

6
While yet we wait for spring, and from the dry
And blackening east that so embitters March,
Well-housed must watch grey fields and meadows parch,
And driven dust and withering snowflake fly;
Already in glimpses of the tarnish'd sky
The sun is warm and beckons to the larch,
And where the covert hazels interarch
Their tassell'd twigs, fair beds of primrose lie. 
Beneath the crisp and wintry carpet hid
A million buds but stay their blossoming;
...Read more of this...
by Bridges, Robert Seymour

The Idiot Boy

...The IDIOT BOY.   'Tis eight o'clock,—a clear March night,  The moon is up—the sky is blue,  The owlet in the moonlight air,  He shouts from nobody knows where;  He lengthens out his lonely shout,  Halloo! halloo! a long halloo!   —Why bustle thus about your door,  What means this bustle, Betty Foy?  Why are you in th...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

The Lady of the Lake

...rings has spanned!
     I touch the chords of joy, but low
     And mournful answer notes of woe;
     And the proud march which victors tread
     Sinks in the wailing for the dead.
     O, well for me, if mine alone
     That dirge's deep prophetic tone!
     If, as my tuneful fathers said,
     This harp, which erst Saint Modan swayed,
     Can thus its master's fate foretell,
     Then welcome be the minstrel's knell.'
     VIII.

     'But ah! dear lady, thu...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Walk

...ence, heroes rushed out to the fray.
On the high walls appeared the mothers, embracing their infants,
Looking after the march, till the distance 'twas lost.
Then in prayer they threw themselves down at the deities' altars,
Praying for triumph and fame, praying for your safe return.
Honor and triumph were yours, but naught returned save your glory,
And by a heart-touching stone, told are your valorous deeds.
"Traveller! when thou com'st to Sparta, proclaim to the people
That t...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

The Wife of Baths Tale

...nd so befell that ones in a Lent
(So oftentimes I to my gossip went,
For ever yet I loved to be gay,
And for to walk in March, April, and May
From house to house, to heare sundry tales),
That Jenkin clerk, and my gossip, Dame Ales,
And I myself, into the fieldes went.
Mine husband was at London all that Lent;
I had the better leisure for to play,
And for to see, and eke for to be sey* *seen
Of lusty folk; what wist I where my grace* *favour
Was shapen for to be, or in what pl...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

Things I Didnt Know I Loved

...it's 1962 March 28th
I'm sitting by the window on the Prague-Berlin train 
night is falling
I never knew I liked
night descending like a tired bird on a smoky wet plain 
I don't like
comparing nightfall to a tired bird

I didn't know I loved the earth
can someone who hasn't worked the earth love it 
I've never worked the earth
it must be my only Platonic love

and her...Read more of this...
by Hikmet, Nazim

White Flock

...well-accustomed,
But attentive -- is harder just might.
Or the dark shadow has been overpowered
After many a jasmine March night?

Tiring din of the conversations,
Yellow chandelier's lifeless light
And the glimmer of crafty gadgets
Underneath the arm raised and light.

My companion looks at her with hope
And to her flashes a smile..
O my happy and wealthy heir,
Read from my will.

 * III * 



May Snow

Upon fresh ground falls and melts
At once unno...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

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