Famous Bulwark Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Answers

...I keep my answers small and keep them near;
Big questions bruised my mind but still I let
Small answers be a bulwark to my fear.

The huge abstractions I keep from the light;
Small things I handled and caressed and loved.
I let the stars assume the whole of night.

But the big answers clamoured to be moved
Into my life. Their great audacity
Shouted to be acknowledged and believed.

Even when all small answers build up to
Protection of my spirit, I still hear
Big an...Read more of this...
by Jennings, Elizabeth


Beowulf (Modern English)

...im widely throughout the world. (ll. 258-66)

“We come with loyal hearts seeking your lord,
the son of Halfdane, the bulwark of his people.
Be good to us in your instruction!
We have a mighty mission to the famous king of the Danes—
nor must anything be kept secret here, as I see it.
You know too well, if we hear it said truthfully,
that among the Scyldings is some sort of scather,
an obscure deed-hater who reveals in the dark of night
a purposeless malice through h...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Beowulf (Old English)

...now,
monster cruel, be mine to quell
in single battle! So, from thee,
thou sovran of the Shining-Danes,
Scyldings’-bulwark, a boon I seek, --
and, Friend-of-the-folk, refuse it not,
O Warriors’-shield, now I’ve wandered far, --
that I alone with my liegemen here,
this hardy band, may Heorot purge!
More I hear, that the monster dire,
in his wanton mood, of weapons recks not;
hence shall I scorn -- so Hygelac stay,
king of my kindred, kind to me! --
brand or buckl...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Champagne 1914-15

...forfeit that he paid 
Than undishonored that his flag might float 
Over the towers of liberty, he made 
His breast the bulwark and his blood the moat. 

Obscurely sacrificed, his nameless tomb, 
Bare of the sculptor's art, the poet's lines, 
Summer shall flush with poppy-fields in bloom, 
And Autumn yellow with maturing vines. 

There the grape-pickers at their harvesting 
Shall lightly tread and load their wicker trays, 
Blessing his memory as they toil and sing 
In the sla...Read more of this...
by Seeger, Alan

Geraint And Enid

...g grew: 
So lay the man transfixt. His craven pair 
Of comrades making slowlier at the Prince, 
When now they saw their bulwark fallen, stood; 
On whom the victor, to confound them more, 
Spurred with his terrible war-cry; for as one, 
That listens near a torrent mountain-brook, 
All through the crash of the near cataract hears 
The drumming thunder of the huger fall 
At distance, were the soldiers wont to hear 
His voice in battle, and be kindled by it, 
And foemen scared, l...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord


Julian and Maddalo (excerpt)

...av'd with the image of the sky.... The hoar
And aëry Alps towards the North appear'd
Through mist, an heaven-sustaining bulwark rear'd
Between the East and West; and half the sky
Was roof'd with clouds of rich emblazonry
Dark purple at the zenith, which still grew
Down the steep West into a wondrous hue
Brighter than burning gold, even to the rent
Where the swift sun yet paus'd in his descent
Among the many-folded hills: they were
Those famous Euganean hills, which bear,
As s...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Ode to Valour

...p, 
'Midst the wild waves their fatal arrows threw; 
Loud roar'd the cannon's voice with ceaseless ire, 
While the vast BULWARK glow'd,­a PYRAMID OF FIRE!

Then in each BRITON's gallant breast, 
Benignant VIRTUE shone confest ! 
When Death spread wide his direful reign, 
And shrieks of horror echoed o'er the main; 
Eager they flew, their wretched foes to save 
From the dread precincts of a whelming grave; 
THEN, VALOUR was thy proudest hour! 
THEN, didst thou, like a radiant ...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Mary Darby

Paradise Lost: Book 02

...h inferior; but who here 
Will envy whom the highest place exposes 
Foremost to stand against the Thunderer's aim 
Your bulwark, and condemns to greatest share 
Of endless pain? Where there is, then, no good 
For which to strive, no strife can grow up there 
From faction: for none sure will claim in Hell 
Precedence; none whose portion is so small 
Of present pain that with ambitious mind 
Will covet more! With this advantage, then, 
To union, and firm faith, and firm accord,...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Portrait

...addered reach 
Of orchards, nor the tide gone ebbing 
 From the steep beach.

Nor hold to pain's effrontery 
Her body's bulwark, stern and savage, 
Nor be a glass, where to forsee 
 Another's ravage.

What she has gathered, and what lost, 
She will not find to lose again. 
She is possessed by time, who once 
 Was loved by men....Read more of this...
by Bogan, Louise

Song of the Exposition

...City and State—North, South, item and aggregate, 
We dedicate, dread Mother, all to thee! 

Protectress absolute, thou! Bulwark of all!
For well we know that while thou givest each and all, (generous as God,) 
Without thee, neither all nor each, nor land, home, 
Ship, nor mine—nor any here, this day, secure, 
Nor aught, nor any day secure. 

13
And thou, thy Emblem, waving over all!
Delicate beauty! a word to thee, (it may be salutary;) 
Remember, thou hast not always been, a...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Lady of the Lake

...ting abruptly from the dell
     Its thunder-splintered pinnacle;
     Round many an insulated mass,
     The native bulwarks of the pass,
     Huge as the tower which builders vain
     Presumptuous piled on Shinar's plain.
     The rocky summits, split and rent,
     Formed turret, dome, or battlement.
     Or seemed fantastically set
     With cupola or minaret,
     Wild crests as pagod ever decked,
     Or mosque of Eastern architect.
     Nor were these eart...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Quaker Graveyard in Nantucket

...rtent at the sea
Where dreadnaughts shall confess
Its heel-bent deity,
When you are powerless
To sand-bag this Atlantic bulwark, faced
By the earth-shaker, green, unwearied, chaste
In his steel scales: ask for no Orphean lute
To pluck life back. The guns of the steeled fleet
Recoil and then repeat
The hoarse salute.

 II

Whenever winds are moving and their breath
Heaves at the roped-in bulwarks of this pier,
The terns and sea-gulls tremble at your death
In these home waters....Read more of this...
by Lowell, Robert

The Triumph Of Fame

..., with Numidia's king behind,Ever in faithful league with Rome combined,The bulwark of his state. Another nigh,Of Syracuse, I saw, a firm allyTo Italy, like him. But deadly hate,Repulsive frowns, and love of stern debate,Hamilcar mark'd, who at a distance stood,And eyed the friendly pair in hostile mood.Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

The Triumph Of Woman

...d plain its crested shade?
What tho' their Priests in earnest terror call
On all their host of Gods to aid?
Vain is the bulwark, vain the tower;
In vain her gallant youths expose
Their breasts, a bulwark, to the foes.
In vain at that tremendous hour,
Clasp'd in the savage soldier's reeking arms,
Shrieks to tame Heaven the violated Maid.
By the rude hand of Ruin scatter'd round
Their moss-grown towers shall spread the desart ground.
Low shall the mouldering palace lie,
Amid th...Read more of this...
by Southey, Robert

White Flock

...Easter wind,

And the red branches of a twig,
And waterfalls inside a park,
And two dragonflies
On rusty iron of a bulwark.

And I could not disbelieve,
That he'll befriend me all alone
When on the mountain slopes I went
Along hot pathway made of stone.



x x x

Every evening I receive
A letter like a bride
To my friend I give
Response late at night.

"I'll be guest of the white death
On my journey down.
You, my tender one, don't do
Harm to anyone."...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

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