Famous Blameless Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Balin and Balan

...and my squire 
Hath in him small defence; but thou, Sir Prince, 
Wilt surely guide me to the warrior King, 
Arthur the blameless, pure as any maid, 
To get me shelter for my maidenhood. 
I charge thee by that crown upon thy shield, 
And by the great Queen's name, arise and hence.' 

And Balin rose, 'Thither no more! nor Prince 
Nor knight am I, but one that hath defamed 
The cognizance she gave me: here I dwell 
Savage among the savage woods, here die-- 
Die: let the wolves'...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord


Beowulf (Modern English)

...ing
across the seas gifts and tokens of our love.
I know that these tribes will be made firm
against friend and foe, blameless in every way,
in the manner of olden times.” (ll. 1853b-65)

Then, still in the hall, the shelter of earls,
the son of Halfdane, gave to Beowulf,
twelve treasures, bidding him to seek
his own tribe in safety with those gifts,
and to come again at once.
Then the good king of noble stock kissed
the best of thanes, the prince of Scyldings
ho...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Beowulf (Old English)

...owner awaiting.
As they hastened onward, Hrothgar’s gift
they lauded at length. -- ’Twas a lord unpeered,
every way blameless, till age had broken
-- it spareth no mortal -- his splendid might.



XXVII

CAME now to ocean the ever-courageous
hardy henchmen, their harness bearing,
woven war-sarks. The warden marked,
trusty as ever, the earl’s return.
From the height of the hill no hostile words
reached the guests as he rode to greet them;
but “Welcome!” he cal...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Dickinson Poems by Number

...y—can suffice!

271

A solemn thing—it was—I said—
A woman—white—to be—
And wear—if God should count me fit—
Her blameless mystery—

A hallowed thing—to drop a life
Into the purple well—
Too plummetless—that it return—
Eternity—until—

I pondered how the bliss would look—
And would it feel as big—
When I could take it in my hand—
As hovering—seen—through fog—

And then—the size of this "small" life—
The Sages—call it small—
Swelled—like Horizons—in my ves...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

Eloisa to Abelard

...ife, myself--and you.
Fill my fond heart with God alone, for he
Alone can rival, can succeed to thee.

How happy is the blameless vestal's lot!
The world forgetting, by the world forgot.
Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind!
Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd;
Labour and rest, that equal periods keep;
"Obedient slumbers that can wake and weep;"
Desires compos'd, affections ever ev'n,
Tears that delight, and sighs that waft to Heav'n.
Grace shines around her with se...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander


Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot

...eft me--for they left me Gay;
Left me to see neglected genius bloom,
Neglected die! and tell it on his tomb;
Of all thy blameless life the sole return
My verse, and Queensb'ry weeping o'er thy urn!

Oh let me live my own! and die so too!
("To live and die is all I have to do:")
Maintain a poet's dignity and ease,
And see what friends, and read what books I please.
Above a patron, though I condescend
Sometimes to call a minister my friend:
I was not born for courts or great af...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Geraint And Enid

...Strange chances here alone;' that other flushed, 
And hung his head, and halted in reply, 
Fearing the mild face of the blameless King, 
And after madness acted question asked: 
Till Edyrn crying, 'If ye will not go 
To Arthur, then will Arthur come to you,' 
'Enough,' he said, 'I follow,' and they went. 
But Enid in their going had two fears, 
One from the bandit scattered in the field, 
And one from Edyrn. Every now and then, 
When Edyrn reined his charger at her side, 
She...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Hymn to Demeter by Homer

...our city's coif of towers by their wisdom and true judgements: there is wise Triptolemus and Dioclus and Polyxeinus and blameless Eumolpus and Dolichus and our own brave father. All these have wives who manage in the house, and no one of them, so soon as she had seen you, would dishonour you and turn you from the house, but they will welcome you; for indeed you are godlike. But if you will, stay here; and we will go to our father's house and tell Metaneira, our deep-bosomed m...Read more of this...
by Homer,

Hymn To The Penates

...put down,
He fitliest, who for FREEDOM lived and died,
The friend of humankind. Then did your feasts
Frequent recur and blameless; and when came
The solemn festival, whose happiest rites
Emblem'd EQUALITY, the holiest truth!
Crown'd with gay garlands were your statues seen,
To you the fragrant censer smok'd, to you
The rich libation flow'd: vain sacrifice!
For nor the poppy wreath nor fruits nor wine.
Ye ask, PENATES! nor the altar cleans'd
With many a mystic form; ye ask the...Read more of this...
by Southey, Robert

I Knew A Man By Sight

...I knew a man by sight, 
A blameless wight, 
Who, for a year or more, 
Had daily passed my door, 
Yet converse none had had with him. 
I met him in a lane, 
Him and his cane, 
About three miles from home, 
Where I had chanced to roam, 
And volumes stared at him, and he at me. 

In a more distant place 
I glimpsed his face, 
And bowed instinctively; 
Starting he bowed to me, 
Bowed sim...Read more of this...
by Thoreau, Henry David

Inferno (English)

...Master, what hear I? Who so overborne 
 With woes are these?" 
 He answered, "These be they 
 That praiseless lived and blameless. Now the scorn 
 Of Height and Depth alike, abortions drear; 
 Cast with those abject angels whose delay 
 To join rebellion, or their Lord defend, 
 Waiting their proved advantage, flung them here. - 
 Chased forth from Heaven, lest else its beauties end 
 The pure perfection of their stainless claim, 
 Out-herded from the shining gate they came, ...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante

Merlin

...
"In to the upper doors, 
Nor count compartments of the floors, 
But mount to paradise 
By the stairway of surprise." 

Blameless master of the games, 
King of sport that never shames, 
He shall daily joy dispense 
Hid in song's sweet influence. 
Forms more cheerly live and go, 
What time the subtle mind 
Sings aloud the tune whereto 
Their pulses beat, 
And march their feet, 
And their members are combined. 

By Sybarites beguiled, 
He shall no task decline; 
Merlin's mighty...Read more of this...
by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Merlin I

...s say,
In to the upper doors;
Nor count compartments of the floors,
But mount to Paradise
By the stairway of surprise.

Blameless master of the games,
King of sport that never shames;
He shall daily joy dispense
Hid in song's sweet influence.
Things more cheerly live and go,
What time the subtle mind
Plays aloud the tune whereto
Their pulses beat,
And march their feet,
And their members are combined.

By Sybarites beguiled
He shall no task decline;
Merlin's mighty line,
Extre...Read more of this...
by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Pilates Wifes Dream

...engeance wrought; 
By this mean reptile, innocence to sting. 
Oh ! could I but the purposed doom avert, 
And shield the blameless head from cruel hurt! 

Accessible is Pilate's heart to fear, 
Omens will shake his soul, like autumn leaf; 
Could he this night's appalling vision hear, 
This just man's bonds were loosed, his life were safe, 
Unless that bitter priesthood should prevail, 
And make even terror to their malice quail. 

Yet if I tell the dream­but let me pause.
What...Read more of this...
by Bronte, Charlotte

Requiem

...ing the new year's ice
With your hot tears.
Back and forth the prison poplar sways
With not a sound - how many innocent
Blameless lives are being taken away. . .
[1938]

V

For seventeen months I have been screaming,
Calling you home.
I've thrown myself at the feet of butchers
For you, my son and my horror.
Everything has become muddled forever -
I can no longer distinguish
Who is an animal, who a person, and how long
The wait can be for an execution.
There are now only dusty...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

The Harvest

...s taken
God for a master
Made him a law,
Mocked him and cursed him,
Set up this hunger,
Called it necessity,
Put in the blameless mouth
Juda's language:
The poor ye have with you
Always, unending.
But up from the impotent
Anguish of children,
Up from the labor
Fruitless, unmeaning,
Of millions of mothers,
Hugely necessitous,
Grew by a just law
Stern and implacable,
Art born of poverty,
The making of sickles
Meet for the harvest.

And now to the wheat-fields
Come the weird rea...Read more of this...
by Scott, Duncan Campbell

The Holy Grail

...at, 
And thrice as blind as any noonday owl, 
To holy virgins in their ecstasies, 
Henceforward." 

`"Deafer," said the blameless King, 
"Gawain, and blinder unto holy things 
Hope not to make thyself by idle vows, 
Being too blind to have desire to see. 
But if indeed there came a sign from heaven, 
Blessd are Bors, Lancelot and Percivale, 
For these have seen according to their sight. 
For every fiery prophet in old times, 
And all the sacred madness of the bard, 
When God ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Star-Splitter

...hose blame things?'
I asked him well beforehand. `Don't you get one!'

`Don't call it blamed; there isn't anything
More blameless in the sense of being less
A weapon in our human fight,' he said.
`I'll have one if I sell my farm to buy it.'
There where he moved the rocks to plow the ground
And plowed between the rocks he couldn't move,
Few farms changed hands; so rather than spend years
Trying to sell his farm and then not selling,
He burned his house down for the fire insura...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

The Triumph Of Fame

...beheld the nations swayTo idols, from the Heaven-directed way,Though he was blameless? Where does he resideWho first the dangerous art of magic tried?O Crassus! much I mourn the baleful starThat o'er Euphrates led the storm of war.Thy troops, by Parthian snares encircled round,Mark'd with Hesperia's shame the bloody ground;<...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

Ulysses

...r, by slow prudence to make mild
A rugged people, and through soft degrees
Subdue them to the useful and the good.
Most blameless is he, centered in the sphere
Of common duties, decent not to fail
In offices of tenderness, and pay
Meet adoration to my household gods,
When I am gone. He works his work, I mine.

There lies the port; the vessel puffs her sail:
There gloom the dark broad seas. My mariners,
Souls that have toiled, and wrought, and thought with me—
That ever with a...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

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