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Famous Cowslip Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...s twinkle o’er the lawn;
 An’ she has twa sparkling roguish een.


She’s stately like yon youthful ash,
 That grows the cowslip braes between,
And drinks the stream with vigour fresh;
 An’ she has twa sparkling roguish een.


She’s spotless like the flow’ring thorn,
 With flow’rs so white and leaves so green,
When purest in the dewy morn;
 An’ she has twa sparkling roguish een.


Her looks are like the vernal May,
 When ev’ning Phoebus shines serene,
While birds rejoice on ev...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert



...s
 But tales of woe;
And frae my een the drapping rains
 Maun ever flow.


Mourn, Spring, thou darling of the year!
Ilk cowslip cup shall kep a tear:
Thou, Simmer, while each corny spear
 Shoots up its head,
Thy gay, green, flow’ry tresses shear,
 For him that’s dead!


Thou, Autumn, wi’ thy yellow hair,
In grief thy sallow mantle tear!
Thou, Winter, hurling thro’ the air
 The roaring blast,
Wide o’er the naked world declare
 The worth we’ve lost!


Mourn him, thou Sun, great...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert
...And makes cool banks to pleasing rest invite,
Whence springs the woodbind, and the bramble-rose,
And where the sleepy cowslip sheltered grows;
Whilst now a paler hue the foxglove takes,
Yet checkers still with red the dusky brakes
When scattered glow-worms, but in twilight fine,
Shew trivial beauties watch their hour to shine;
Whilst Salisb'ry stands the test of every light,
In perfect charms, and perfect virtue bright:
When odors, which declined repelling day,
Thro...Read more of this...
by Finch, Anne Kingsmill
...ith myrtle cross and crown of rose, 
And every lowlier flower that blows, 
His new-made couch is dress’d; 
Primrose and cowslip, hyacinth wild, 
Gather’d by monarch, peasant, child, 
A nation’s grief attest. 

I stood not with the mournful crowd 
That hither came when round his shroud 
Pious farewells were said. 
In the fam’d city that he sav’d, 
By minaret crown’d, by billow lav’d, 
I heard that he was dead. 

Now o’er his tomb at last I bend, 
No greeting get, no greeting t...Read more of this...
by Austin, Alfred
...In the cowslip pips I lie,
Hidden from the buzzing fly,
While green grass beneath me lies,
Pearled with dew like fishes' eyes,
Here I lie, a clock-o'-clay,
Waiting for the time o' day.

While the forest quakes surprise,
And the wild wind sobs and sighs,
My home rocks as like to fall,
On its pillar green and tall;
When the pattering rain drives by
Clock-o'-clay keep...Read more of this...
by Clare, John



...Daffadils.
And, if at Noon my toil me heat,
The Sun himself licks off my Sweat.
While, going home, the Ev'ning sweet
In cowslip-water bathes my feet.

What, though the piping Shepherd stock
The plains with an unnum'red Flock,
This Sithe of mine discovers wide
More ground then all his Sheep do hide.
With this the golden fleece I shear
Of all these Closes ev'ry Year.
And though in Wooll more poor then they,
Yet am I richer far in Hay.

Nor am I so deform'd to sight,
If in my Si...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew
...ld dews among?

 "O Sorrow,
 Why dost borrow
Heart's lightness from the merriment of May?--
 A lover would not tread
 A cowslip on the head,
Though he should dance from eve till peep of day--
 Nor any drooping flower
 Held sacred for thy bower,
Wherever he may sport himself and play.

 "To Sorrow
 I bade good-morrow,
And thought to leave her far away behind;
 But cheerly, cheerly,
 She loves me dearly;
She is so constant to me, and so kind:
 I would deceive her
 And so leave ...Read more of this...
by Keats, John
...rty be still, 
No more let smoking cakes awake the morn. 

O, Winter! Put away the snowy pride; 
O, Spring! Neglect the cowslip and the bell; 
O, Summer! Throw thy pears and plums aside; 
O, Autumn! Bid the grape with poison swell. 

The pension'd muse of Johnson is no more! 
Drown'd in a butt of wine his genius lies; 
Earth! Ocean! Heav'n! The wond'rous loss deplore, 
The dregs of nature with her glory dies. 

What iron Stoic can suppress the tear; 
What sour reviewer read w...Read more of this...
by Chatterton, Thomas
...t have the mad Clytie,
Whose head is turned by the sun;
The tulip is a courtly queen,
Whom, therefore, I will shun;
The cowslip is a country wench,
The violet is a nun; -
But I will woo the dainty rose,
The queen of everyone. 

The pea is but a wanton witch,
In too much haste to wed,
And clasps her rings on every hand
The wolfsbane I should dread; -
Nor will I dreary rosemary
That always mourns the dead; -
But I will woo the dainty rose,
With her cheeks of tender red. 

The l...Read more of this...
by Hood, Thomas
...er hither, love---
 'Tis a shady mead---
Hither, hither, love!
 Let us feed and feed!

Hither, 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...Read more of this...
by Keats, John
...adorn
Wi dewey flowers-May locks new come
And princifeathers cluttering bloom
And blue bells from the woodland moss
And cowslip cucking balls to toss
Above the garlands swinging hight
Hang in the soft eves sober light
These maid and child did yearly pull
By many a folded apron full
But all is past the merry song
Of maidens hurrying along
To crown at eve the earliest cow
Is gone and dead and silent now
The laugh raisd at the mocking thorn
Tyd to the cows tail last that morn
Th...Read more of this...
by Clare, John
....

* * * * *

The Crimson Junk, by Doris Watt,
I’ve read it. Who, I pray, has not?
Bill Wastel, by C. Marrow. The
Plaid Cowslip. And The Hocking Lee.

The Fallow Field, by Sally Loo;
The Rose in Chains. I’ve read that too;
I’ve read them all for promised treat
Of thrills, emotions, tremblings sweet.

* * * * *

The bill-board hippopotamus
It was a wild, uprageous cuss—
The real one? Well—Can you recall
That it had any mouth at all?...Read more of this...
by Butler, Ellis Parker
...mong? 

O Sorrow! 
Why dost borrow 20 
Heart's lightness from the merriment of May?¡ª 
A lover would not tread 
A cowslip on the head, 
Though he should dance from eve till peep of day¡ª 
Nor any drooping flower 25 
Held sacred for thy bower, 
Wherever he may sport himself and play. 

To Sorrow 
I bade good morrow, 
And thought to leave her far away behind; 30 
But cheerly, cheerly, 
She loves me dearly; 
She is so constant to me, and so kind: 
I would decei...Read more of this...
by Keats, John
...ws among? 

 O Sorrow! 
 Why dost borrow 
 Heart's lightness from the merriment of May?-- 
 A lover would not tread 
 A cowslip on the head, 
 Though he should dance from eve till peep of day-- 
 Nor any drooping flower 
 Held sacred for thy bower, 
 Wherever he may sport himself and play. 

 To Sorrow 
 I bade good morrow, 
 And thought to leave her far away behind; 
 But cheerly, cheerly, 
 She loves me dearly; 
 She is so constant to me, and so kind: 
 I would deceive her ...Read more of this...
by Keats, John
...ws among? 

 O Sorrow! 
 Why dost borrow 
 Heart's lightness from the merriment of May?-- 
 A lover would not tread 
 A cowslip on the head, 
 Though he should dance from eve till peep of day-- 
 Nor any drooping flower 
 Held sacred for thy bower, 
 Wherever he may sport himself and play. 

 To Sorrow 
 I bade good morrow, 
 And thought to leave her far away behind; 
 But cheerly, cheerly, 
 She loves me dearly; 
 She is so constant to me, and so kind: 
 I would deceive her ...Read more of this...
by Keats, John
...ambols and wild freaks at shearing time;  My hen's rich nest through long grass scarce espied;  The cowslip-gathering at May's dewy prime;  The swans, that, when I sought the water-side,  From far to meet me came, spreading their snowy pride.   The staff I yet remember which upbore  The bending body of my active sire;  His seat beneath the honeyed sycamore  When the bees hummed, and chair b...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William
...‘Elder father, though thine eyes 
Shine with hoary mysteries, 
Canst thou tell what in the heart 
Of a cowslip blossom lies? 

‘Smaller than all lives that be, 
Secret as the deepest sea, 
Stands a little house of seeds, 
Like an elfin’s granary. 

‘Speller of the stones and weeds, 
Skilled in Nature’s crafts and creeds, 
Tell me what is in the heart 
Of the smallest of the seeds.’ 

‘God Almighty, and with Him 
Cherubim and Seraphim, 
Filling all eternity— 
...Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K
...dwell. 

I wave my arms across the walk. 
The troops obey the sign, 
And bring me shimmering shadow-robes 
And cups of cowslip-wine. 

Then dig a treasure called the moon, 
A very precious thing, 
And keep it in the air for me 
Because I am a King. 


What Grandpa Mouse Said

The moon's a holy owl-queen. 
She keeps them in a jar 
Under her arm till evening, 
Then sallies forth to war. 

She pours the owls upon us. 
They hoot with horrid noise 
And eat the naughty mousie-girl...Read more of this...
by Lindsay, Vachel
...swallows cling 
As if to show me their sunny backs 
And twit me with the spring.

Oh! but to breathe the breath 
Of the cowslip and primrose sweet —
With the sky above my head, 
And the grass beneath my feet 
For only one short hour 
To feel as I used to feel, 
Before I knew the woes of want 
And the walk that costs a meal!

Oh! but for one short hour! 
A respite however brief! 
No blessed leisure for Love or Hope, 
But only time for Grief! 
A little weeping would ease my hea...Read more of this...
by Hood, Thomas
...left his good arm-chair, 
And rode his hunter down. 

"And with him Albert came on his. 
I look'd at him with joy: 
As cowslip unto oxlip is, 
So seems she to the boy. 

"An hour had past---and, sitting straight 
Within the low-wheel'd chaise, 
Her mother trundled to the gate 
Behind the dappled grays. 

"But as for her, she stay'd at home, 
And on the roof she went, 
And down the way you use to come, 
She look'd with discontent. 

"She left the novel half-uncut 
Upon the ro...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things