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).

See also:

Work chapter VII

by Kahlil Gibran
 Then a ploughman said, "Speak to us of Work." 

And he answered, saying: 

You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. 

For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life's procession, that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite. 

When...Read more of this...

Erico

by Robert William Service
 Oh darling Eric, why did you
For my fond affection sue,
And then with surgeons artful aid
Transform yourself into a maid?
So now in petticoats you go
And people call you Erico.

Sometimes I wonder if they can
Change me in turn into a man;
Then after all we might get wed
And frolic on a feather bed:
Although I do not see how we
Could ever have a...Read more of this...

240. Verses on a Parting Kiss

by Robert Burns
 HUMID seal of soft affections,
 Tenderest pledge of future bliss,
Dearest tie of young connections,
 Love’s first snowdrop, virgin kiss!


Speaking silence, dumb confession,
 Passion’s birth, and infant’s play,
Dove-like fondness, chaste concession,
 Glowing dawn of future day!


Sorrowing joy, Adieu’s last action,
 (Lingering lips must now disjoin),
What words can ever speak affection
 So thrilling and sincere as thine!...Read more of this...

Lover In All Shapes

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 To be like a fish,
Brisk and quick, is my wish;
If thou cam'st with thy line.
Thou wouldst soon make me thine.
To be like a fish,
Brisk and quick, is my wish.

Oh, were I a steed!
Thou wouldst love me indeed.
Oh, were I a car
Fit to bear thee afar!
Oh, were I a steed!
Thou wouldst love me indeed.

I would I were gold
That thy fingers...Read more of this...

You And I

by Ehsan Sehgal
I want nothing else,
But a dream
That comes true
The dream of love,
Truth and purity of the affection,
And your loving companionship
That would fulfil the life
The place where you live
I heard that also
Looks like a dreamland
As it is my dream
I want to come and see
With the desire of;
You and I
Live and love
There
Together
Forever...Read more of this...

Leave Me My Blamer XIII

by Kahlil Gibran
 Leave me, my blamer, 
For the sake of the love 
Which unites your soul with 
That of your beloved one; 
For the sake of that which 
Joins spirit with mothers 
Affection, and ties your 
Heart with filial love. Go, 
And leave me to my own 
Weeping heart. 


Let me sail in the ocean of 
My dreams; Wait until Tomorrow...Read more of this...

Sonnet CCXXVII

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 231] SONNET CCXXVII. Signor mio caro, ogni pensier mi tira. HE LAMENTS HIS ABSENCE FROM LAURA AND COLONNA, THE ONLY OBJECTS OF HIS AFFECTION.  My lord and friend! thoughts, wishes, all inclinedMy heart to visit one so dear to me,But Fortune—can she ever worse decree?—Held me in hand,...Read more of this...

To John Donne

by Ben Jonson
 Donne, the delight of Phoebus and each Muse
Who, to thy one, all other brains refuse;
Whose every work of thy most early wit
Came forth example, and remains so yet;
Longer a-knowing than most wits do live;
And which no affection praise enough can give!
To it, thy language, letters, arts, best life,
Which might with half mankind maintain a strife.
All which I meant to...Read more of this...

Visions of the worlds vanitie

by Edmund Spenser
 One day, whiles that my daylie cares did sleepe,
My spirit, shaking off her earthly prison,
Began to enter into meditation deepe
Of things exceeding reach of common reason;
Such as this age, in which all good is geason,
And all that humble is and meane debaced,
Hath brought forth in her last declining season,
Griefe of good mindes, to see goodnesse disgraced.
On which when as...Read more of this...

Speech is one symptom of Affection

by Emily Dickinson
 Speech is one symptom of Affection
And Silence one --
The perfectest communication
Is heard of none --

Exists and its indorsement
Is had within --
Behold, said the Apostle,
Yet had not seen!...Read more of this...

Hymn 73

by Isaac Watts
 The church's beauty in the eyes of Christ.

SS 4:1-11. 

Kind is the speech of Christ our Lord,
Affection sounds in every word:
Lo! thou art fair, my love," he cries,
"Not the young doves have sweeter eyes."

["Sweet are thy lips, thy pleasing voice
Salutes mine ear with secret joys;
No spice so much delights the smell,
Nor milk nor honey tastes so well.]

"Thou art all...Read more of this...

The Author to Her Book

by Anne Bradstreet
Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,
Who after birth didst by my side remain,
Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,
Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,
Made thee in rags, halting to th' press to trudge,
Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).
At thy return my blushing was not small,
My rambling brat (in print) should mother call,
I cast...Read more of this...

The Death of Lord and Lady Dalhousie

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Alas! Lord and Lady Dalhousie are dead, and buried at last,
Which causes many people to feel a little downcast;
And both lie side by side in one grave,
But I hope God in His goodness their souls will save. 

And may He protect their children that are left behind,
And may they always food and raiment find;
And from the paths of virtue...Read more of this...

There was a Child went Forth

by Walt Whitman
 THERE was a child went forth every day; 
And the first object he look’d upon, that object he became; 
And that object became part of him for the day, or a certain part of the day, or for many
 years, or
 stretching cycles of years. 

The early lilacs became part of this child, 
And grass, and white and red...Read more of this...

The Visit

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 FAIN had I to-day surprised my mistress,
But soon found I that her door was fasten'd.
Yet I had the key safe in my pocket,
And the darling door I open'd softly!
In the parlour found I not the maiden,
Found the maiden not within her closet,
Then her chamber-door I gently open'd,
When I found her wrapp'd in pleasing slumbers,
Fully dress'd, and lying on the...Read more of this...

How To Write The Great American Indian Novel

by Sherman Alexie
All of the Indians must have tragic features: tragic noses, eyes, and arms.
Their hands and fingers must be tragic when they reach for tragic food.

The hero must be a half-breed, half white and half Indian, preferably
from a horse culture. He should often weep alone. That is mandatory.

If the hero is an Indian woman, she is beautiful. She must be slender
and...Read more of this...

Epode

by Ben Jonson
  XI. — EPODE.                                   And her black spite expel, Which to effect (since no breast is so sure,                  Or safe, but she'll procure Some way of entrance) we must plant a guard                  Of thoughts to watch, and ward At the eye and ear, the ports unto the mind,                 Give knowledge instantly, To wakeful reason, our affections' king :                  Who, in th' examining,...Read more of this...

Friendship

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Friend!--the Great Ruler, easily content,
Needs not the laws it has laborious been
The task of small professors to invent;
A single wheel impels the whole machine
Matter and spirit;--yea, that simple law,
Pervading nature, which our Newton saw.

This taught the spheres, slaves to one golden rein,
Their radiant labyrinths to weave around
Creation's mighty hearts: this made the chain,
Which into interwoven systems bound
All spirits streaming...Read more of this...

The Poet VIII

by Kahlil Gibran
 He is a link between this and the coming world. 
He is 
A pure spring from which all thirsty souls may drink. 


He is a tree watered by the River of Beauty, bearing 
Fruit which the hungry heart craves; 
He is a nightingale, soothing the depressed 
Spirit with his beautiful melodies; 
He is a white cloud appearing over the...Read more of this...

Bereavement

by Percy Bysshe Shelley
 How stern are the woes of the desolate mourner
As he bends in still grief o'er the hallowed bier,
As enanguished he turns from the laugh of the scorner,
And drops to perfection's remembrance a tear;
When floods of despair down his pale cheeks are streaming,
When no blissful hope on his bosom is beaming,
Or, if lulled for a while, soon he starts from...Read more of this...

Rearrange a Wifes affection!

by Emily Dickinson
 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 every may!

Love that never leaped its socket --
Trust entrenched in narrow pain --
Constancy thro' fire -- awarded --
Anguish -- bare of anodyne!

Burden -- borne so...Read more of this...

Yesterday and Today XII

by Kahlil Gibran
 The gold-hoarder walked in his palace park and with him walked his troubles. And over his head hovered worries as a vulture hovers over a carcass, until he reached a beautiful lake surrounded by magnificent marble statuary. 

He sat there pondering the water which poured from the mouths of the statues like thoughts flowing freely from a lover's imagination,...Read more of this...

Attributes of a teacher

by Ehsan Sehgal
A teacher who does not possess intelligence, consideration fortitude  and affection tends to harm the talents of pupils.
Ehsan Sehgal
...Read more of this...

Bereavement

by William Lisle Bowles
 Whose was that gentle voice, that, whispering sweet,
Promised methought long days of bliss sincere!
Soothing it stole on my deluded ear,
Most like soft music, that might sometimes cheat
Thoughts dark and drooping! 'Twas the voice of Hope.
Of love and social scenes, it seemed to speak,
Of truth, of friendship, of affection meek;
That, oh! poor friend, might to life's downward slope
Lead us in...Read more of this...

Affection

by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
 The earth that made the rose, 
She also is thy mother, and not I. 
The flame wherewith thy maiden spirit glows 
Was lighted at no hearth that I sit by. 
I am as far below as heaven above thee. 
Were I thine angel, more I could not love thee. 

Bid me defend thee! 
Thy danger over-human strength shall lend...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Affection 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