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Famous Danish Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...of Norway's sons, and cries 
Towards the beach of Sound. 
What passed that time we watched them meet, 
'Twixt Norse and Danish lord? 
Oh! nothing! only to repeat 
King Gustav's play at Stockholm's seat 
With the Twelfth Charles' sword. 

"A people doomed, whose knell is rung, 
Betrayed by every friend!" -- 
Is the book closed and the song sung? 
Is this our Denmark's end? 
Who set the craven colophon, 
While Germans seized the hold, 
And o'er the last Dane lying prone 
Old De...Read more of this...
by Ibsen, Henrik



...othgar sat
old and hoary, among his company of nobles.
He went, courage-bold so that he stood by the shoulder
of the Danish lord, knowing the glorious custom.
Wulfgar presented his message unto his friendly lord:
“Here have come foreign travelers of the Geatish people
over the ocean’s coursing. These champions name
their oldest Beowulf. They are requesting that they,
my prince, be allowed to exchange words with you.
Do not ordain them a refusal, gracious Hrothgar
in...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,
...PRELUDE OF THE FOUNDER OF THE DANISH HOUSE

LO, praise of the prowess of people-kings
of spear-armed Danes, in days long sped,
we have heard, and what honor the athelings won!
Oft Scyld the Scefing from squadroned foes,
from many a tribe, the mead-bench tore,
awing the earls. Since erst he lay
friendless, a foundling, fate repaid him:
for he waxed under welkin, in wealth he thro...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,
...ulder'd church; and higher
A long street climbs to one tall-tower'd mill;
And high in heaven behind it a gray down
With Danish barrows; and a hazelwood,
By autumn nutters haunted, flourishes
Green in a cuplike hollow of the down. 

Here on this beach a hundred years ago,
Three children of three houses, Annie Lee,
The prettiest little damsel in the port,
And Philip Ray the miller's only son,
And Enoch Arden, a rough sailor's lad
Made orphan by a winter shipwreck, play'd
Among ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...is to see 
Odes to every zephyr; 
Ne'er a verse to thee. 
Welcome, black Northeaster! 
O'er the German foam; 
O'er the Danish moorlands, 
From thy frozen home. 
Tired are we of summer, 
Tired of gaudy glare, 
Showers soft and steaming, 
Hot and breathless air. 
Tired of listless dreaming, 
Through the lazy day-- 
Jovial wind of winter 
Turn us out to play! 
Sweep the golden reed-beds; 
Crisp the lazy dike; 
Hunger into madness 
Every plunging pike. 
Fill the lake with wild f...Read more of this...
by Kingsley, Charles



...orthern borders boast of Tweed's fair flood, 
Our Western parts extol their Wylye's fame, 
And the old Lea brags of the Danish blood. 
Arden's sweet Anker, let thy glory be, 
That fair Idea only lives by thee....Read more of this...
by Drayton, Michael
...yet
Dowson and Johnson most I praise - 
To troop with those the world's forgot,
And copy their proud steady gaze.

'The Danish troop was driven out
Between the dawn and dusk,' she said;
'Although the event was long in doubt.
Although the King of Ireland's dead
And half the kings, before sundown
All was accomplished.

 'When this day
Murrough, the King of Ireland's son,
Foot after foot was giving way,
He and his best troops back to back
Had perished there, but the Danes ran,
S...Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler
...passengers
disembarked. There a story ends. Other ships 
arrived, "Tancred" out of Glasgow, "The Neptune"
registered as Danish, "Umberto IV," 
the list goes on for pages, November gives 
way to winter, the sea pounds this alien shore. 
Italian miners from Piemonte dig 
under towns in western Pennsylvania 
only to rediscover the same nightmare 
they left at home. A nine-year-old girl travels 
all night by train with one suitcase and an orange. 
She learns that mercy is somethi...Read more of this...
by Levine, Philip
...Welcome, my old friend,
Welcome to a foreign fireside,
While the sullen gales of autumn
Shake the windows.

The ungrateful world
Has, it seems, dealt harshly with thee,
Since, beneath the skies of Denmark,
First I met thee.

There are marks of age,
There are thumb-marks on thy margin,
Made by hands that clasped thee rudely,
At the alehouse.

Soiled and dul...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...slain by Hengist's guile:
Or Druid priests, sprinkled with human gore,
Taught 'mid thy massy maze their mystic lore:
Or Danish chiefs, enrich'd with savage spoil,
To Victory's idol vast, an unhewn shrine,
Rear'd the rude heap: or, in thy hallow'd round,
Repose the kings of Brutus' genuine line;
Or here those kings in solemn state were crown'd:
Studious to trace thy wondrous origine,
We muse on many an ancient tale renown'd....Read more of this...
by Warton, Thomas

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry