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Famous Cast Away Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Bronte, Anne
...ery fiend of Hell methinks
Enjoys the anguish of my heart. 

What shall I do if all my love,
My hopes, my toil, are cast away,
And if there be no God above
To hear and bless me when I pray? 

If this be vain delusion all,
If death be an eternal sleep,
And none can hear my secret call,
Or see the silent tears I weep. 

O help me God! for thou alone
Canst my distracted soul relieve;
Forsake it not -- it is thine own,
Though weak yet longing to believe. 

O drive the...Read more of this...



by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...Cast me away!" And sad was Arthur's face 
Taking it, but old Merlin counselled him, 
"Take thou and strike! the time to cast away 
Is yet far-off." So this great brand the king 
Took, and by this will beat his foemen down.' 

Thereat Leodogran rejoiced, but thought 
To sift his doubtings to the last, and asked, 
Fixing full eyes of question on her face, 
`The swallow and the swift are near akin, 
But thou art closer to this noble prince, 
Being his own dear sister;' a...Read more of this...

by Moody, William Vaughn
...se rejected clay 
Till each dark face shone mystical and grand 
Against the breaking day; 
And lo, the shard the potter cast away 
Was grown a fiery chalice crystal-fine 
Fulfilled of the divine 
Great wine of battle wrath by God's ring-finger stirred. 
Then upward, where the shadowy bastion loomed 
Huge on the mountain in the wet sea light, 
Whence now, and now, infernal flowerage bloomed, 
Bloomed, burst, and scattered down its deadly seed, -- 
They swept, and died like...Read more of this...

by Carew, Thomas
...have learned thy arts, and now 
Can disdain as much as thou. 
Some power, in my revenge convey 
That love to her I cast away....Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...n: anyone,
Regarding, well had deem'd he felt the tale
Less than the teller: only when she closed
`Enoch, poor man, was cast away and lost'
He, shaking his gray head pathetically,
Repeated muttering `cast away and lost;'
Again in deeper inward whispers `lost!' 

But Enoch yearn'd to see her face again;
`If I might look on her sweet face gain
And know that she is happy.' So the thought
Haunted and harass'd him, and drove him forth,
At evening when the dull November day
Was...Read more of this...



by Yeats, William Butler
...nd his words were wise,
And what to me was burden without end,
To him seemed easy, so I laid the crown
Upon his head to cast away my sorrow.

Druid. What would you, king of the proud Red Branch kings?

Fergus. A king and proud! and that is my despair.
I feast amid my people on the hill,
And pace the woods, and drive my chariot-wheels
In the white border of the murmuring sea;
And still I feel the crown upon my head

Druid. What would you, Fergus?

Fergus.Read more of this...

by Po, Li
...I love Master Meng.
Free as a flowing breeze,
He is famous
Throughout the world.

In rosy youth, he cast away
Official cap and carriage.
Now, a white-haired elder, he reclines
Amid pines and cloud.

Drunk beneath the moon,
He often attains sagehood.
Lost among the flowers,
He serves no lord.

How can I aspire
to such a high mountain?
Here below, to his clear fragrance,
I bow....Read more of this...

by Ingelow, Jean
...tree,
By darkness, by the wormwood and the gall,
      I pray Thee visit me.
Come, lest this heart should, cold and cast away,
  Die ere the guest adored she entertain—
Lest eyes which never saw Thine earthly day
      Should miss Thy heavenly reign.
Come, weary-eyed from seeking in the night
  Thy wanderers strayed upon the pathless wold,
Who wounded, dying, cry to Thee for light,
      And cannot find their fold.
And deign, O Watcher, with the sleepless brow,
 ...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...nd -- 
Only a pound for the drover's friend. 
The drover's friend that has seen his day, 
And now was worthless and cast away 
With a broken knee and a broken heart 
To be flogged and starved in a hawker's cart. 
Well, I made a bid for a sense of shame 
And the memories of the good old game. 

"Thank you? Guinea! and cheap at that! 
Against you there in the curly hat! 
Only a guinea, and one more chance, 
Down he goes if there's no advance, 
Third, and last time, ...Read more of this...

by Bronte, Anne
...nks, I own.

Shall I with joy Thy blessings share
And not endure their loss?
Or hope the martyr's crown to wear
And cast away the cross?

These weary hours will not be lost,
These days of passive misery,
These nights of darkness anguish tost
If I can fix my heart on Thee.

Weak and weary though I lie,
Crushed with sorrow, worn with pain,
Still I may lift to Heaven mine eyes
And strive and labour not in vain,

That inward strife against the sins
That ever wait on suffe...Read more of this...

by Bronte, Anne
...'O cast away your sorrow; --
A while, at least, be gay!
If grief must come tomorrow,
At least, be glad today! 
'How can you still be sighing
When smiles are everywhere?
The little birds are flying
So blithely through the air;

'The sunshine glows so brightly
O'er all the blooming earth;
And every heart beats lightly, --
Each face is full of mirth.'

'I alwa...Read more of this...

by Qabbani, Nizar
...Oh, my love
If you were at the level of my madness,
You would cast away your jewelry,
Sell all your bracelets,
And sleep in my eyes....Read more of this...

by Bronte, Anne
...nd a voice of matchless music
Murmurs 'Cherish life for me!'

Roused to newborn strength and courage,
Pain and grief, I cast away,
Health and life, I keenly follow,
Mighty Death is held at bay.

Yes, my love, I will be patient!
Firm and bold my heart shall be:
Fear not -- though this life is dreary,
I can bear it well for thee.

Let our foes still rain upon me
Cruel wrongs and taunting scorn;
'Tis for thee their hate pursues me,
And for thee, it shall be borne!...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...new about an ax
That not everybody else knew was to count
For nothing in the measure of a neighbor.
Hard if, though cast away for life with Yankees,
A Frenchman couldn't get his human rating!

 Mrs. Baptiste came in and rocked a chair
That had as many motions as the world:
One back and forward, in and out of shadow,
That got her nowhere; one more gradual,
Sideways, that would have run her on the stove
In time, had she not realized her danger
And caught herself up bodi...Read more of this...

by Bronte, Anne
...fiend of Hell, methinks,
Enjoys the anguish of my heart. 

What shall I do, if all my love,
My hopes, my toil, are cast away,
And if there be no God above,
To hear and bless me when I pray? 

If this be vain delusion all,
If death be an eternal sleep,
And none can hear my secret call,
Or see the silent tears I weep! 

Oh, help me, God! For thou alone
Canst my distracted soul relieve;
Forsake it not: it is thine own,
Though weak, yet longing to believe. 

Oh, drive th...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...and who shall blazon it? when and how?-- 
O there, perchance, when all our wars are done, 
The brand Excalibur will be cast away. 

`So to this hall full quickly rode the King, 
In horror lest the work by Merlin wrought, 
Dreamlike, should on the sudden vanish, wrapt 
In unremorseful folds of rolling fire. 
And in he rode, and up I glanced, and saw 
The golden dragon sparkling over all: 
And many of those who burnt the hold, their arms 
Hacked, and their foreheads gr...Read more of this...

by Yeats, William Butler
...at soul
Too perfect at the full to lie in a cradle,
Too lonely for the traffic of the world:
Body and soul cast out and cast away
Beyond the visible world.

Aherne. All dreams of the soul
End in a beautiful man's or woman's body.

Robartes, Have you not always known it?

Aherne. The song will have it
That those that we have loved got their long fingers
From death, and wounds, or on Sinai's top,
Or from some bloody whip in their own hands.
They ran from cra...Read more of this...

by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...'d standing,
Friends and lovers, trembling for the bold one:
"Why, alas, remain'd he here not with us!
Ah, the tempest! Cast away by fortune!
Must the good one perish in this fashion?
Might not he perchance.... Ye great immortals!"

Yet he, like a man, stands by his rudder;
With the bark are sporting wind and water,
Wind and water sport not with his bosom:
On the fierce deep looks he, as a master,--
In his gods, or shipwreck'd, or safe landed,
Trusting ever.Read more of this...

by Marvell, Andrew
..., when the Seas
Rul'd, and the Winds did what they please,
That my poor Lover floting lay,
And, e're brought forth, was cast away:
Till at the last the master-Wave.
Upon the Rock his Mother drave;
And there she split against the Stone,
In a Cesarian Section.

The Sea him lent these bitter Tears
Which at his Eyes he alwaies bears.
And from the Winds the Sighs he bore,
Which through his surging Breast do roar.
No Day he saw but that which breaks,
Through frighte...Read more of this...

by Pope, Alexander
...each me more than Hell to shun, 
 That more than Heav'n pursue. 

What blessings thy free bounty gives 
 Let me not cast away; 
For God is paid when man receives; 
 T' enjoy is to obey. 

Yet not to earth's contracted span 
 Thy goodness let me bound, 
Or think thee Lord alone of man, 
 When thousand worlds are round. 

Let not this weak, unknowing hand 
 Presume thy bolts to throw, 
And teach damnation round the land 
 On each I judge thy foe. 

If I am right...Read more of this...

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