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Famous Civility Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Herrick, Robert
...in knots far more than I.
Can tell by tongue, or True-love tie;
Next, when those lawny films I see
Play with a wild civility;
And all those airy silks to flow,
Alluring me, and tempting so--
I must confess, mine eye and heart
Dotes less on nature than on art....Read more of this...



by Dickinson, Emily
...nd Immortality. 

We slowly drove--He knew no haste 
And I had put away 
My labor and my leisure too, 
For His Civility-- 

We passed the School, where Children strove 
At Recess--in the Ring-- 
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain-- 
We passed the Setting Sun-- 

Or rather--He passed us-- 
The Dews drew quivering and chill-- 
For only Gossamer, my Gown-- 
My Tippet--only Tulle-- 

We paused before a House that seemed 
A Swelling of the Ground-- 
The Ro...Read more of this...

by Herrick, Robert
...usedly;
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat;
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility;--
Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part....Read more of this...

by Herrick, Robert
...edly--
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat--
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility--
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part....Read more of this...

by Donne, John
...devil never can change his.
It is the emblem that hath figured
Firmness; 'tis the first part that comes to bed.
Civility we see refined; the kiss
Which at the face began, transplanted is,
Since to the hand, since to the imperial knee,
Now at the papal foot delights to be:
If kings think that the nearer way, and do
Rise from the foot, lovers may do so too;
For as free spheres move faster far than can
Birds, whom the air resists, so may that man
Which goes this empty an...Read more of this...



by Pope, Alexander
...l not lie;
To laugh, were want of goodness and of grace,
And to be grave, exceeds all pow'r of face.
I sit with sad civility, I read
With honest anguish, and an aching head;
And drop at last, but in unwilling ears,
This saving counsel, "Keep your piece nine years."

"Nine years!" cries he, who high in Drury-lane
Lull'd by soft zephyrs through the broken pane,
Rhymes ere he wakes, and prints before Term ends,
Oblig'd by hunger, and request of friends:
"The piece, you t...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...e are in my power at last, are in my power. 
Yet fear me not: I call mine own self wild, 
But keep a touch of sweet civility 
Here in the heart of waste and wilderness. 
I thought, but that your father came between, 
In former days you saw me favourably. 
And if it were so do not keep it back: 
Make me a little happier: let me know it: 
Owe you me nothing for a life half-lost? 
Yea, yea, the whole dear debt of all you are. 
And, Enid, you and he, I see with jo...Read more of this...

by Philips, Katherine
...was still the same, 
Of a resigned Soul, untainted Fame, 
Nor were her Vertues coarsly set, for she 
Out-did Example in Civility. 
To bestow blessings, to oblige, relieve, 
Was all for which she could endure to live. 
She had a joy higher in doing good, 
Than they to whom the benefit accru'd. 
Though none of Honour had a quicker sense, 
Never had Woman more of complacence; 
Yet lost it not in empty forms, but still 
Her Nature noble was, her Soul gentile. 
And...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...l nations now to Rome obedience pay— 
To Rome's great Emperor, whose wide domain,
In ample territory, wealth and power,
Civility of manners, arts and arms,
And long renown, thou justly may'st prefer
Before the Parthian. These two thrones except,
The rest are barbarous, and scarce worth the sight,
Shared among petty kings too far removed;
These having shewn thee, I have shewn thee all
The kingdoms of the world, and all their glory.
This Emperor hath no son, and now is ...Read more of this...

by Marvell, Andrew
...s Credit, and Exchange.
In vain for Catholicks our selves we bear;
The Universal Church is onely there.
Nor can Civility there want for Tillage,
Where wisely for their Court they chose a Village.
How fit a Title clothes their Governours,
Themselves the Hogs as all their Subjects Bores
Let it suffice to give their Country Fame
That it had one Civilis call'd by Name,
Some Fifteen hundred and more years ago,
But surely never any that was so.
See but their Mairmai...Read more of this...

by Wilmot, John
..., and gowns, when they like thee look wise.
French truth, Dutch prowess, British policy,
Hibernian learning, Scotch civility,
Spaniard's dispatch, Dane's wit are mainly seen in thee.
The great man's gratitude to his best friend,
King's promises, whore's vows, towards thee they bend,
Flow swiftly to thee, and in thee never end....Read more of this...

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