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Famous Aspirations Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...s, let us crush and crowd and push 
Till we lose the love of roving, and we learn to hate the bush; 
And we'll turn our aspirations to a city life and beer, 
And we'll slip across to England -- it's a nicer place than here; 

For there's not much risk of hardship where all comforts are in store, 
And the theatres are in plenty, and the pubs are more and more. 
But that ends it, Mr Lawson, and it's time to say good-bye, 
So we must agree to differ in all friendship, you an...Read more of this...



by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
..."

"Oh, pardon me," I cried, "I meant it well:

Not vainly did'st thou bless mine eyes with light;
For in my blood glad aspirations swell,

The value of thy gifts I know aright!
Those treasures in my breast for others dwell,

The buried pound no more I'll hide from sight.
Why did I seek the road so anxiously,
If hidden from my brethren 'twere to be?"

And as I answer'd, tow'rd me turn'd her face,

With kindly sympathy, that god-like one;
Within her eye full plainly could ...Read more of this...

by Ehrmann, Max
...s unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be. And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy....Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...hee, thee to free, O Soul,) 
Be thou my God.

6
Or thee, Old Cause, when’er advancing; 
All great Ideas, the races’ aspirations, 
All that exalts, releases thee, my Soul! 
All heroisms, deeds of rapt enthusiasts, 
Be ye my Gods!

7
Or Time and Space! 
Or shape of Earth, divine and wondrous! 
Or shape in I myself—or some fair shape, I, viewing, worship, 
Or lustrous orb of Sun, or star by night: 
Be ye my Gods....Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...The same old blood! 
The same red-running blood! 
There swells and jets a heart—there all passions, desires, reachings, aspirations;
Do you think they are not there because they are not express’d in parlors and
 lecture-rooms? 

This is not only one man—this is the father of those who shall be fathers in their
 turns; 
In him the start of populous states and rich republics; 
Of him countless immortal lives, with countless embodiments and enjoyments. 

How do you know who ...Read more of this...



by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...ded
Hurled him downward, and descending
In the air he hung suspended,
With these equal powers contending. 

Thus by aspirations lifted,
By misgivings downward driven,
Human hearts are tossed and drifted
Midway between earth and heaven....Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...s, 
And crown you with our welcome as with flowers! 

How beautiful is youth! how bright it gleams 
With its illusions, aspirations, dreams! 
Book of Beginnings, Story without End, 
Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend! 
Aladdin's Lamp, and Fortunatus' Purse, 
That holds the treasures of the universe! 
All possibilities are in its hands, 
No danger daunts it, and no foe withstands; 
In its sublime audacity of faith, 
"Be thou removed!" it to the mountain saith, 
And wit...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...t.

2
Come nearer, bodiless one—haply, in thee resounds 
Some dead composer—haply thy pensive life 
Was fill’d with aspirations high—unform’d ideals, 
Waves, oceans musical, chaotically surging, 
That now, ecstatic ghost, close to me bending, thy cornet echoing, pealing,
Gives out to no one’s ears but mine—but freely gives to mine, 
That I may thee translate. 

3
Blow, trumpeter, free and clear—I follow thee, 
While at thy liquid prelude, glad, serene, 
The fretting w...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...e death, and test propositions. 

How plenteous! How spiritual! How resumé! 
The same Old Man and Soul—the same old aspirations, and the same content. 

I was thinking the day most splendid, till I saw what the not-day exhibited, 
I was thinking this globe enough, till there sprang out so noiseless around me myriads of
 other
 globes.

Now, while the great thoughts of space and eternity fill me, I will measure myself by
 them; 
And now, touch’d with the lives of o...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...ot of France alone—pale symbol of my soul, its dearest hopes, 
The struggle and the daring—rage divine for liberty, 
Of aspirations toward the far ideal—enthusiast’s dreams of brotherhood,
Of terror to the tyrant and the priest. 

3
Star crucified! by traitors sold! 
Star panting o’er a land of death—heroic land! 
Strange, passionate, mocking, frivolous land. 

Miserable! yet for thy errors, vanities, sins, I will not now rebuke thee;
Thy unexampled woes and pangs hav...Read more of this...

by Finch, Anne Kingsmill
...> 
Then let to Heaven our general Praise be sent, 
Which did our farther Loss, our total Wreck prevent. 
And as our Aspirations do ascend, 
Let every Thing be summon'd to attend; 
And let the Poet after God's own Heart 
Direct our Skill in that sublimer part, 
And our weak Numbers mend!...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...han stars or suns, 
Bounding, O soul, thou journeyest forth; 
—What love, than thine and ours could wider amplify?
What aspirations, wishes, outvie thine and ours, O soul? 
What dreams of the ideal? what plans of purity, perfection, strength? 
What cheerful willingness, for others’ sake, to give up all? 
For others’ sake to suffer all? 

Reckoning ahead, O soul, when thou, the time achiev’d,
(The seas all cross’d, weather’d the capes, the voyage done,) 
Surrounded, copest, fr...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...s, begun and carried on in thoughts of Thee, 
Sailing the deep, or journeying the land for Thee; 
Intentions, purports, aspirations mine—leaving results to Thee.

O I am sure they really come from Thee! 
The urge, the ardor, the unconquerable will, 
The potent, felt, interior command, stronger than words, 
A message from the Heavens, whispering to me even in sleep, 
These sped me on.

By me, and these, the work so far accomplish’d (for what has been, has been;) 
By me...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...d rule. I think of him, 
And save the furniture; I think of you, 
And am forlorn, finding in you the one 
To lavish aspirations and illusions
Upon a faded and forsaken house 
Where love, being locked alone, was nigh to burning 
House and himself together. Yes, you are strange, 
To see in such an injured architecture 
Room for new love to live in. Are you laughing?
No? Well, you are not crying, as you should be. 
Tears, even if they told only gratitude 
For you...Read more of this...

by Schiller, Friedrich von
...d away
Each thought that might have stained its purity;
That kind one ne'er forget who, as in sport,
Thy youth to noble aspirations trained,
And who to thee in easy riddles taught
The secret how each virtue might be gained;
Who, to receive him back more perfect still,
E'en into strangers' arms her favorite gave--
Oh, may'st thou never with degenerate will,
Humble thyself to be her abject slave!
In industry, the bee the palm may bear;
In skill, the worm a lesson may impart;
Wi...Read more of this...

by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...erced his marrow and his frame.
That which Amor stole before
Phoebus only can restore,
Peace, and joy, and harmony,
Aspirations pure and free.

Brethren, rise ye!
Numbers prize ye!
Deeds of worth resemble they.

Who can better than the bard
Guide a friend when gone astray?

If his duty he regard,
More he'll do, than others may.

Yes! afar I hear them sing!
Yes! I hear them touch the string,
And with mighty godlike stroke

Right and duty they inspire,
And evoke...Read more of this...

by Harrison, Tony
...br>
She didn't understand yer fucking 'art'!
She thought yer fucking poetry obscene! 

I wish on this skin's words deep aspirations,
first the prayer for my parents I can't make,
then a call to Britain and to all nations
made in the name of love for peace's sake.

Aspirations, ****! Folk on t'fucking dole
'ave got about as much scope to aspire
above the **** they're dumped in, ****, as coal
aspires to be chucked on t'fucking fire. 

'OK, forget the aspirations. Lo...Read more of this...

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