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Famous Affection Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Shakespeare, William
...termless skin
Whose bare out-bragg'd the web it seem'd to wear:
Yet show'd his visage by that cost more dear;
And nice affections wavering stood in doubt
If best were as it was, or best without.

'His qualities were beauteous as his form,
For maiden-tongued he was, and thereof free;
Yet, if men moved him, was he such a storm
As oft 'twixt May and April is to see,
When winds breathe sweet, untidy though they be.
His rudeness so with his authorized youth
Did livery fal...Read more of this...



by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...
The Lord taketh away. I trust myself 
Always to you and to your courtesy.
Only remember that I cling somewhat 
Affectionately to the old tradition.”— 
“I understand you and your part,” said Avon; 
“And I dare say it’s well enough, tonight, 
We play around the circumstance a little.
I’ve read of men that half way to the stake 
Would have their little joke. It’s well enough; 
Rather a waste of time, but well enough.” 

I listened as I waited, and heard ...Read more of this...

by Ginsberg, Allen
...alk all night about Kerouac & Cassady sit Buddhalike then 
 sleep in his captain's bed."
"He seemed to need so much affection, a shame not to make him happy"
"I was lonely never in bed nude with anyone before, he was so gentle my 
 stomach
shuddered when he traced his finger along my abdomen nipple to hips-- "
"All I did was lay back eyes closed, he'd bring me to come with mouth 
 & fingers along my waist"
"He gave great head"
So there be gossip from loves of 1948, ghost ...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...at any time
Am I inclined to climb—
A Crater I may contemplate
Vesuvius at home.

1737

Rearrange a "Wife's" affection!
When they dislocate my Brain!
Amputate my freckled Bosom!
Make me bearded like a man!

Blush, my spirit, in thy Fastness—
Blush, my unacknowledged clay—
Seven years of troth have taught thee
More than Wifehood ever may!

Love that never leaped its socket—
Trust entrenched in narrow pain—
Constancy thro fire—awarded—
Anguish—bare of an...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...elds of May,
As do those brighter drops that twinkling stray
From those kind eyes,--the very home and haunt
Of sisterly affection. Can I want
Aught else, aught nearer heaven, than such tears?
Yet dry them up, in bidding hence all fears
That, any longer, I will pass my days
Alone and sad. No, I will once more raise
My voice upon the mountain-heights; once more
Make my horn parley from their foreheads hoar:
Again my trooping hounds their tongues shall loll
Around the br...Read more of this...



by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...nkle them far o'er the ocean
Naught but tradition remains of the beautiful village of Grand-Pre.

Ye who believe in affection that hopes, and endures, and is patient,
Ye who believe in the beauty and strength of woman's devotion,
List to the mournful tradition still sung by the pines of the forest;
List to a Tale of Love in Acadie, home of the happy.



PART THE FIRST

I

In the Acadian land, on the shores of the Basin of Minas,
Distant, secluded, still, the little vi...Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...e wings,
Teaching us, by most persuasive reasons,
How akin they are to human things.

And with childlike, credulous affection
We behold their tender buds expand;
Emblems of our own great resurrection,
Emblems of the bright and better land....Read more of this...

by Schiller, Friedrich von
...n love's true heart, sure haven of repose;
Does not pain's veriest transports learn to smile
From that bright eloquence affection gave
To friendly looks?--there, finds not pain a grave?

In all creation did I stand alone,
Still to the rocks my dreams a soul should find,
Mine arms should wreathe themselves around the stone,
My griefs should feel a listener in the wind;
My joy--its echo in the caves should be!
Fool, if ye will--Fool, for sweet sympathy!

We are dead groups of m...Read more of this...

by Moore, Marianne
...xperiment,
a duty or as merely recreation.
One must not call him ruffian
nor friction a calamity --
the fight to be affectionate:
"no truth can be fully known
until it has been tried
by the tooth of disputation."
The blue panther with black eyes,
the basalt panther with blue eyes,
entirely graceful --
one must give them the path --
the black obsidian Diana
who "darkeneth her countenance
as a bear doth,
causing her husband to sigh,"
the spiked hand
that has an affectio...Read more of this...

by Kendall, Henry
...ing down a distant stream. 

Oh, the love returned by loved ones! Oh, the faces that I knew! 
Oh, the wrecks of fond affection! Oh, the hearts so warm and true! 
But their voices I remember, and a something lingers still, 
Like a dying echo roaming sadly round a far off hill. 


I would sojourn here contented, tranquil as I was of yore, 
And would never wish to clamber, seeking for an unknown shore; 
I have dwelt within this cottage twenty summers, and mine eyes 

...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...secret of impassive Earth? 
Who bind it to us? What is this separate Nature, so unnatural? 
What is this Earth, to our affections? (unloving earth, without a throb to answer ours; 
Cold earth, the place of graves.) 

Yet, soul, be sure the first intent remains—and shall be carried out;
(Perhaps even now the time has arrived.) 

After the seas are all cross’d, (as they seem already cross’d,) 
After the great captains and engineers have accomplish’d their work, 
After ...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...
In the perverse event then I foresaw)
My penance hath not slack'n'd, though my pardon
No way assur'd. But conjugal affection
Prevailing over fear, and timerous doubt 
Hath led me on desirous to behold
Once more thy face, and know of thy estate.
If aught in my ability may serve
To light'n what thou suffer'st, and appease
Thy mind with what amends is in my power,
Though late, yet in some part to recompense
My rash but more unfortunate misdeed.

Sam: Out, out Hyaena...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...ce a man or woman coming—perhaps you are the one, (So long!) 
I announce the great individual, fluid as Nature, chaste, affectionate, compassionate,
 fully
 armed. 

I announce a life that shall be copious, vehement, spiritual, bold; 
I announce an end that shall lightly and joyfully meet its translation; 
I announce myriads of youths, beautiful, gigantic, sweet-blooded;
I announce a race of splendid and savage old men. 

3
O thicker and faster! (So long!) 
O crowding...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...ir felt 
His purpose half within him melt; 
Not that against her fancied weal 
His heart though stern could ever feel; 
Affection chain'd her to that heart; 
Ambition tore the links apart. 

VII. 

"Zuleika! child of gentleness! 
How dear this very day must tell, 
When I forget my own distress, 
In losing what I love so well, 
To bid thee with another dwell: 
Another! and a braver man 
Was never seen in battle's van. 
We Moslems reck not much of blood; 
But yet th...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...wilt thou say? *thou wist it not right now* *even now thou
Whether she be a woman or goddess. knowest not*
Thine is affection of holiness,
And mine is love, as to a creature:
For which I tolde thee mine aventure
As to my cousin, and my brother sworn
I pose*, that thou loved'st her beforn: *suppose
Wost* thou not well the olde clerke's saw, *know'st
That who shall give a lover any law?
Love is a greater lawe, by my pan,
Than may be giv'n to any earthly man:
Therefore p...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...weeped.
     Nor while on Ellen's faltering tongue
     Her filial welcomes crowded hung,
      Marked she that fear—affection's proof—
     Still held a graceful youth aloof;
     No! not till Douglas named his name,
     Although the youth was Malcolm Graeme.
     XXIII.

     Allan, with wistful look the while,
     Marked Roderick landing on the isle;
     His master piteously he eyed,
     Then gazed upon the Chieftain's pride,
     Then dashed with hasty ha...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...ne.
I am thy true and very wedded wife;
Go, deare spouse, and help to save our life."
Lo, what a great thing is affection!
Men may die of imagination,
So deeply may impression be take.
This silly carpenter begins to quake:
He thinketh verily that he may see
This newe flood come weltering as the sea
To drenchen* Alison, his honey dear. *drown
He weepeth, waileth, maketh *sorry cheer*; *dismal countenance*
He sigheth, with full many a sorry sough.* *groan
He...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...rms, 
But missed the mignonette of Vivian-place, 
The little hearth-flower Lilia. Thus he spoke, 
Part banter, part affection. 
'True,' she said, 
'We doubt not that. O yes, you missed us much. 
I'll stake my ruby ring upon it you did.' 

She held it out; and as a parrot turns 
Up through gilt wires a crafty loving eye, 
And takes a lady's finger with all care, 
And bites it for true heart and not for harm, 
So he with Lilia's. Daintily she shrieked 
A...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...scarcely might they stand,
Yet tickled I his hearte for that he
Ween'd* that I had of him so great cherte:** *though **affection16
I swore that all my walking out by night
Was for to espy wenches that he dight:* *adorned
Under that colour had I many a mirth.
For all such wit is given us at birth;
Deceit, weeping, and spinning, God doth give
To women kindly, while that they may live. *naturally
And thus of one thing I may vaunte me,
At th' end I had the better in each...Read more of this...

by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...ce of some envious skill,
Were torn apart (a wide wound, mind from mind)
She did unite again with visions clear
Of deep affection and of truth sincere.

These were the pranks she played among the cities
Of mortal men. And what she did to Sprites
And Gods, entangling them in her sweet ditties,
To do her will, and show their subtle sleights,
I will declare another time; for it is
A tale more fit for the weird winter-nights
Than for these garish summer-days, when we
Scar...Read more of this...

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