Famous Adorned Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

Hymn 21

by Isaac Watts
 A vision of the kingdom of Christ among men.

Rev. 21:1-4. 

Lo! what a glorious sight appears
To our believing eyes!
The earth and sea are passed away,
And the old rolling skies.

From the third heav'n, where God resides,
That holy, happy place,
The new Jerusalem comes down,
Adorned with shining grace.

Attending angels shout for joy,
And the bright armies sing-
"Mortals, behold the sacred seat
Of your descending...Read more of this...

Foreign Lands

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 Up into the cherry tree 
Who should climb but little me? 
I held the trunk with both my hands 
And looked abroad in foreign lands. 

I saw the next door garden lie, 
Adorned with flowers, before my eye, 
And many pleasant places more 
That I had never seen before. 

I saw the dimpling river pass 
And be the sky's...Read more of this...

The Driver

by Friedrich von Schiller
 "What knight or what vassal will be so bold
As to plunge in the gulf below?
See! I hurl in its depths a goblet of gold,
Already the waters over it flow.
The man who can bring back the goblet to me,
May keep it henceforward,--his own it shall be."

Thus speaks the king, and he hurls from the height
Of the cliffs that, rugged and...Read more of this...

On the Welch Language

by Katherine Philips
If honor to an ancient name be due,
Or riches challenge it for one that's new,
The British language claims in either sense
Both for its age, and for its opulence.
But all great things must be from us removed,
To be with higher reverence beloved.
So landskips which in prospects distant lie,
With greater wonder draw the pleasèd eye.
Is not great Troy to one dark ruin...Read more of this...

The Eighteenth Century

by Victor Hugo
 ("O dix-huitième siècle!") 
 
 {IV. vi} 


 O Eighteenth Century! by Heaven chastised! 
 Godless thou livedst, by God thy doom was fixed. 
 Thou in one ruin sword and sceptre mixed, 
 Then outraged love, and pity's claim despised. 
 Thy life a banquet—but its board a scaffold at the close, 
 Where far from Christ's beatic...Read more of this...

In The Baggage Room At Greyhound

by Allen Ginsberg
 I

In the depths of the Greyhound Terminal 
sitting dumbly on a baggage truck looking at the sky 
 waiting for the Los Angeles Express to depart 
worrying about eternity over the Post Office roof in 
 the night-time red downtown heaven 
staring through my eyeglasses I realized shuddering 
 these thoughts were not eternity, nor the poverty 
 of...Read more of this...

Arrival

by Henry Van Dyke
 Across a thousand miles of sea, a hundred leagues of land,
Along a path I had not traced and could not understand,
I travelled fast and far for this, -- to take thee by the hand. 

A pilgrim knowing not the shrine where he would bend his knee,
A mariner without a dream of what his port would be,
So fared I with...Read more of this...

Patches

by Robert William Service
 Mother focused with a frown
The part of me where I sit down.
Said she: "Your pants are wearing through;
Let me sew on a patch for you."
And so she did,--of azure blue.
My britches were of sober grey,
And when I went to school next day,
The fellows said: "Excuse our smile:
We saw your patch 'way off a mile."
Said I: "Sure, it's the latest...Read more of this...

Hymn 20

by Isaac Watts
 Spiritual apparel.

Isa. 61:10. 

Awake, my heart; arise, my tongue,
Prepare a tuneful voice;
In God, the life of all my joys,
Aloud will I rejoice.

'Tis he adorned my naked soul,
And made salvation mine;
Upon a poor polluted worm
He makes his graces shine.

And lest the shadow of a spot
Should on my soul be found,
He took the robe the Savior wrought,
And cast it all around.

How...Read more of this...

Hymn 92

by Isaac Watts
 Christ the wisdom of God.

Prov. 8:1,22-32. 

Shall Wisdom cry aloud,
And not her speech be heard?
The voice of God's eternal Word,
Deserves it no regard?

"I was his chief delight,
His everlasting Son,
Before the first of all his works,
Creation, was begun.

["Before the flying clouds,
Before the solid land,
Before the fields, before the floods,
I dwelt at his right hand.

"When he adorned the skies,
And built them,...Read more of this...

Psalm 122

by Isaac Watts
 Going to church.

How did my heart rejoice to hear
My friends devoutly say,
"In Zion let us all appear,
And keep the solemn day!"

I love her gates, I love the road;
The church, adorned with grace,
Stands like a palace built for God,
To show his milder face.

Up to her courts with joys unknown
The holy tribes repair;
The Son of David holds his throne,
And sits in...Read more of this...

I Now O Friend Whom Noiselessly The Snows

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 I NOW, O friend, whom noiselessly the snows
Settle around, and whose small chamber grows
Dusk as the sloping window takes its load:

* * * * *

The kindly hill, as to complete our hap,
Has ta'en us in the shelter of her lap;
Well sheltered in our slender grove of trees
And ring of walls, we sit between her knees;
A disused quarry, paved with...Read more of this...

Psalm 80

by Isaac Watts
 The church's prayer under affliction; or, The vineyard of God wasted.

Great Shepherd of thine Israel,
Who didst between the cherubs dwell,
And lead the tribes, thy chosen sheep,
Safe through the desert and the deep;

Thy church is in the desert now,
Shine from on high and guide us through;
Turn us to thee, thy love restore,
We shall be saved and sigh no more.

Great God,...Read more of this...

The Day that I was crowned

by Emily Dickinson
 The Day that I was crowned
Was like the other Days --
Until the Coronation came --
And then -- 'twas Otherwise --

As Carbon in the Coal
And Carbon in the Gem
Are One -- and yet the former
Were dull for Diadem --

I rose, and all was plain --
But when the Day declined
Myself and It, in Majesty
Were equally -- adorned --

The Grace that I...Read more of this...

There was an old man of Blackheath

by Edward Lear
There was an old man of Blackheath,Whose head was adorned with a wreathOf lobsters and spice, pickled onions and mice,That uncommon old man of Blackheath. ...Read more of this...

There was an Old Man on a hill

by Edward Lear
There was an Old Man on a hill,Who seldom, if ever, stood still;He ran up and down in his Grandmother's gown,Which adorned that Old Man on a hill. ...Read more of this...

Cupid Sleeping

by Mary Darby Robinson
 [Inscribed to Her Grace the Duchess of Devonshire.]


CLOSE in a woodbine's tangled shade, 
The BLOOMING GOD asleep was laid; 
His brows with mossy roses crown'd; 
His golden darts lay scatter'd round; 
To shade his auburn, curled head, 
A purple canopy was spread, 
Which gently with the breezes play'd, 
And shed around a soften'd shade. 
Upon his downy smiling cheek,...Read more of this...

Psalm 48 part 2

by Isaac Watts
 v.10-14 
S. M.
The beauty of the church; or, Gospel worship and order.

Far as thy name is known,
The world declares thy praise;
Thy saints, O Lord, before thy throne,
Their songs of honor raise.

With joy let Judah stand
On Zion's chosen hill,
Proclaim the wonders of thy hand,
And counsels of thy will.

Let strangers walk around
The city where we dwell,
Compass and view thine holy ground,
And...Read more of this...

Psalm 45 part 2

by Isaac Watts
 Christ and his church.

The King of saints, how fair his face,
Adorned with majesty and grace!
He comes with blessings from above,
And wins the nations to his love.

At his right hand our eyes behold
The queen arrayed in purest gold;
The world admires her heav'nly dress,
Her robe of joy and righteousness.

He forms her beauties like his own;
He calls and seats her near his...Read more of this...

Flattery

by Allama Muhammad Iqbal
One day a Spider was telling a Fly
'Everyday on this route you are passing by'

But not for once did my fortune trigger
That, towards my home you never got nearer

It matters not if from strangers you abstain
But away from friends you shouldn't remain

My home if you come
That shall be my honor!
That ladder in the front
Will reach you to your friend

When heard...Read more of this...

The dead kisses of departed years

by Emile Verhaeren
The dead kisses of departed years have put their seal on your face, and, beneath the melancholy and furrowing wind of age, many of the roses in your features have faded.
I see your mouth and your great eyes glow no more like a morning of festival, nor your head slowly recline in the black and massive garden of your hair.
Your...Read more of this...

Preamble (A Rough Draft For An Ars Poetica)

by Jean Cocteau
 ...Preamble

A rough draft 
for an ars poetica

. . . . . . . 

Let's get our dreams unstuck

The grain of rye
free from the prattle of grass
et loin de arbres orateurs

I 

plant

it

It will sprout


But forget about 
the rustic festivities

For the explosive word 
falls harmlessly
eternal through
the compact generations 

and except for you

 nothing 
 denotates

its sweet-scented dynamite

Greetings
I discard eloquence
the empty sail
and...Read more of this...

Last Words to Miriam

by D. H. Lawrence
 Yours is the shame and sorrow, 
But the disgrace is mine; 
Your love was dark and thorough, 
Mine was the love of the sun for a flower 
He creates with his shine. 

I was diligent to explore you, 
Blossom you stalk by stalk, 
Till my fire of creation bore you 
Shrivelling down in the final dour 
Anguish -- then...Read more of this...

Drunk As Drunk

by Pablo Neruda
 Drunk as drunk on turpentine
From your open kisses,
Your wet body wedged
Between my wet body and the strake
Of our boat that is made of flowers,
Feasted, we guide it - our fingers
Like tallows adorned with yellow metal -
Over the sky's hot rim,
The day's last breath in our sails.

Pinned by the sun between solstice
And equinox, drowsy and tangled together
We drifted for months...Read more of this...

As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies

by Emily Dickinson
 As the Starved Maelstrom laps the Navies
As the Vulture teased
Forces the Broods in lonely Valleys
As the Tiger eased

By but a Crumb of Blood, fasts Scarlet
Till he meet a Man
Dainty adorned with Veins and Tissues
And partakes -- his Tongue

Cooled by the Morsel for a moment
Grows a fiercer thing
Till he esteem his Dates and Cocoa
A Nutrition mean

I, of a finer Famine
Deem...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Adorned poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace