Famous Breath Of Life Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Ballad of John Nicholson

...know not why? 
We brook no doubt of our mastery, 
We rule until we die. 

"Were I the one last Englishman 
Drawing the breath of life, 
And you the master-rebel of all 
That stir this land to strife -- 

"Were I," he said, "but a Corporal, 
And you a Rajput King, 
So long as the soul was in my body 
You should not do this thing. 

"Take off, take off, those shoes of pride, 
Carry them whence they came; 
Your Captains saw your insolence, 
And they shall see your shame." 

Whe...Read more of this...
by Newbolt, Sir Henry


A Sailor's Song

...who sail the main.
Then, if you love me, let me sail
While a vessel dares the deep;
For the ship 's my wife, and the breath of life
Are the raging gales that sweep;
And when I 'm done with calm and blast,
A slide o'er the side, and rest at last.
...Read more of this...
by Laurence Dunbar, Paul

Endymion: Book II

...plain,
Without an echo? Then shall I be left
So sad, so melancholy, so bereft!
Yet still I feel immortal! O my love,
My breath of life, where art thou? High above,
Dancing before the morning gates of heaven?
Or keeping watch among those starry seven,
Old Atlas' children? Art a maid of the waters,
One of shell-winding Triton's bright-hair'd daughters?
Or art, impossible! a nymph of Dian's,
Weaving a coronal of tender scions
For very idleness? Where'er thou art,
Methinks it now...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Hither Hither Love

..., hither, sweet---
 'Tis a cowslip bed---
Hither, hither, sweet!
 'Tis with dew bespread!

Hither, hither, dear
 By the breath of life,
Hither, hither, dear!---
 Be the summer's wife!

Though one moment's pleasure
 In one moment flies---
Though the passion's treasure
 In one moment dies;---

Yet it has not passed---
 Think how near, how near!---
And while it doth last,
 Think how dear, how dear!

Hither, hither, hither
 Love its boon has sent---
If I die and wither
 I shall d...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Jubilate Agno: Fragment A

..., O ye Tongues; give the glory to the Lord, and the Lamb. 

Nations, and languages, and every Creature, in which is the breath of Life. 

Let man and beast appear before him, and magnify his name together. 

Let Noah and his company approach the throne of Grace, and do homage to the Ark of their Salvation. 

Let Abraham present a Ram, and worship the God of his Redemption. 

Let Isaac, the Bridegroom, kneel with his Camels, and bless the hope of his pilgrimage. 

Let Jacob, a...Read more of this...
by Smart, Christopher


Lines Written Among The Euganean Hills

...s musical
The inspired soul supplies
With its own deep melodies;
And the love which heals all strife
Circling, like the breath of life,
All things in that sweet abode
With its own mild brotherhood:
They, not it, would change; and soon
Every sprite beneath the moon
Would repent its envy vain,
And the earth grow young again....Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Mahomets Song

...[This song was intended to be introduced in 
a dramatic poem entitled Mahomet, the plan of which was not carried 
out by Goethe. He mentions that it was to have been sung by Ali 
towards the end of the piece, in honor of his master, Mahomet, shortly 
before his death, and when at the height of his glory, of which 
it is typical.]

SEE the rock-born stream!...Read more of this...
by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang

Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte

...of clay. 

IV 
The triumph and the vanity, 
The rapture of the strife -- 
The earthquake voice of Victory, 
To thee the breath of life; 
The sword, the sceptre, and that sway 
Which man seem'd made but to obey, 
Wherewith renown was rife -- 
All quell'd! -- Dark Spirit! what must be 
The madness of thy memory! 

V 
The Desolator desolate! 
The Victor overthrown! 
The Arbiter of others' fate 
A Suppliant for his own! 
Is it some yet imperial hope 
That with such change can cal...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Paradise Lost: Book 07

...reeps the ground. 
This said, he formed thee, Adam, thee, O Man, 
Dust of the ground, and in thy nostrils breathed 
The breath of life; in his own image he 
Created thee, in the image of God 
Express; and thou becamest a living soul. 
Male he created thee; but thy consort 
Female, for race; then blessed mankind, and said, 
Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth; 
Subdue it, and throughout dominion hold 
Over fish of the sea, and fowl of the air, 
And every living thing tha...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 10

...ring, would torment me 
With cruel expectation. Yet one doubt 
Pursues me still, lest all I cannot die; 
Lest that pure breath of life, the spirit of Man 
Which God inspired, cannot together perish 
With this corporeal clod; then, in the grave, 
Or in some other dismal place, who knows 
But I shall die a living death? O thought 
Horrid, if true! Yet why? It was but breath 
Of life that sinned; what dies but what had life 
And sin? The body properly had neither, 
All of me the...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Questions of Travel

...right to be watching strangers in a play 
in this strangest of theatres? 
What childishness is it that while there's a breath of life 
in our bodies, we are determined to rush 
to see the sun the other way around? 
The tiniest green hummingbird in the world? 
To stare at some inexplicable old stonework, 
inexplicable and impenetrable, 
at any view, 
instantly seen and always, always delightful? 
Oh, must we dream our dreams 
and have them, too? 
And have we room 
for one mor...Read more of this...
by Bishop, Elizabeth

Rosalind and Helen: a Modern Eclogue

...ROSALIND, HELEN, and her Child.

SCENE. The Shore of the Lake of Como.

HELEN
Come hither, my sweet Rosalind.
'T is long since thou and I have met;
And yet methinks it were unkind
Those moments to forget.
Come, sit by me. I see thee stand
By this lone lake, in this far land,
Thy loose hair in the light wind flying,
Thy sweet voice to each tone of even
Unit...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

States!

...ll the forces of courts and arms,
These! to hold you together as firmly as the earth itself is held together. 

The old breath of life, ever new, 
Here! I pass it by contact to you, America. 

O mother! have you done much for me? 
Behold, there shall from me be much done for you.

There shall from me be a new friendship—It shall be called after my name, 
It shall circulate through The States, indifferent of place, 
It shall twist and intertwist them through and around each ot...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Creation

...,
Kneeled down in the dust
Toiling over a lump of clay
Till he shaped it in is his own image;

Then into it he blew the breath of life,
And man became a living soul.
Amen.Amen....Read more of this...
by Johnson, James Weldon

The Princess (part 4)

...s music; who desire you more 
Than growing boys their manhood; dying lips, 
With many thousand matters left to do, 
The breath of life; O more than poor men wealth, 
Than sick men health--yours, yours, not mine--but half 
Without you; with you, whole; and of those halves 
You worthiest; and howe'er you block and bar 
Your heart with system out from mine, I hold 
That it becomes no man to nurse despair, 
But in the teeth of clenched antagonisms 
To follow up the worthiest till...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket

...ere in Nantucket, and cast up the time
When the Lord God formed man from the sea's slime
And breathed into his face the breath of life,
And blue-lung'd combers lumbered to the kill.
The Lord survives the rainbow of His will....Read more of this...
by Lowell, Robert

The Rape of the Lock

...is Foe to die.
But this bold Lord, with manly Strength indu'd,
She with one Finger and a Thumb subdu'd, 
Just where the Breath of Life his Nostrils drew,
A Charge of Snuff the wily Virgin threw;
The Gnomes direct, to ev'ry Atome just,
The pungent Grains of titillating Dust.
Sudden, with starting Tears each Eye o'erflows,
And the high Dome re-ecchoes to his Nose.

Now meet thy Fate, incens'd Belinda cry'd,
And drew a deadly Bodkin from her Side.
(The same, his ancient Personag...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Rape of the Lock: Canto 5

...s foe to die.
But this bold lord with manly strength endu'd,
She with one finger and a thumb subdu'd:
Just where the breath of life his nostrils drew,
A charge of snuff the wily virgin threw;
The Gnomes direct, to ev'ry atom just,
The pungent grains of titillating dust.
Sudden, with starting tears each eye o'erflows,
And the high dome re-echoes to his nose.

"Now meet thy fate", incens'd Belinda cried,
And drew a deadly bodkin from her side.
(The same, his ancient...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Ulysses

...It little profits that an idle king,
By this still hearth, among these barren crags,
Matched with an aged wife, I mete and dole
Unequal laws unto a savage race,
That hoard, and sleep, and feed, and know not me.

I cannot rest from travel: I will drink
Life to the lees: all times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Written among the Euganean Hills North Italy

...
The inspir¨¨d soul supplies 
With its own deep melodies; 
And the Love which heals all strife 
Circling, like the breath of life, 185 
All things in that sweet abode 
With its own mild brotherhood:¡ª 
They, not it, would change; and soon 
Every sprite beneath the moon 
Would repent its envy vain, 190 
And the Earth grow young again! ...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

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