Get Your Premium Membership

Famous Dearth Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

by Bradstreet, Anne
...ndered Towns, my houses' devastation,
198 My ravisht virgins, and my young men slain,
199 My wealthy trading fallen, my dearth of grain.
200 The seedtime's come, but Ploughman hath no hope
201 Because he knows not who shall inn his crop.
202 The poor they want their pay, their children bread,
203 Their woful mothers' tears unpitied.
204 If any pity in thy heart remain,
205 Or any child-like love thou dost retain,
206 For my relief now use thy utmost skill,
207 And...Read more of this...



by Smart, Christopher
...ive 
 Upon the snow-clad earth: 
For ADORATION myrtles stay 
To keep the garden from dismay, 
 And bless the sight from dearth. 

 LXII 
The pheasant shows his pompous neck; 
The ermine, jealous of a speck, 
 With fear eldues offence: 
The sable, with his glossy pride, 
For ADORATION is describ'd, 
 Where frosts the waves condense. 

 LXIII 
The cheerful holly, pensive yew, 
And holy thorn, their trim renew; 
 The squirrel hoards his nuts; 
All creatures batten o'er t...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...efore, on every morrow, are we wreathing 
A flowery band to bind us to the earth, 
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth 
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days, 
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkn'd ways 
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all, 
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall 
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon, 
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon 
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils 
With the green world they live in; and cl...Read more of this...

by Pope, Alexander
...Dregs remain,
Not yet purg'd off, of Spleen and sow'r Disdain,
Discharge that Rage on more Provoking Crimes,
Nor fear a Dearth in these Flagitious Times.
No Pardon vile Obscenity should find,
Tho' Wit and Art conspire to move your Mind;
But Dulness with Obscenity must prove
As Shameful sure as Importance in Love.
In the fat Age of Pleasure, Wealth, and Ease,
Sprung the rank Weed, and thriv'd with large Increase;
When Love was all an easie Monarch's Care;
Seldom at Cou...Read more of this...

by Sidney, Sir Philip
...in Stellaes face. 
XXVII 

Because I oft in darke abstracted guise
Seeme most alone in greatest company,
With dearth of words, or answers quite awrie,
To them that would make speech of speech arise;
They deeme, and of their doome the runour flies,
That poison foul of bubbling pride doth lie
So in my swelling breast, that only I
Fawne on my selfe, and others do despise.
Yet pride I thinke doth not my soule possesse
(Which looks too oft in his vnflatt'ring ...Read more of this...



by McKay, Claude
...ere the eagles build their nest, 
Will give us undisturbed and friendly rest. 
No dewfall softens this vast belt of dearth. 

But in the socket-chiseled teeth of strife, 
That gleam in serried files in all the lands, 
We may join hungry, understanding hands, 
And drink our share of ardent love and life....Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...erefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear ril...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...e, that fairest joys give most unrest;
That things of delicate and tenderest worth
Are swallow'd all, and made a seared dearth,
By one consuming flame: it doth immerse
And suffocate true blessings in a curse.
Half-happy, by comparison of bliss,
Is miserable. 'Twas even so with this
Dew-dropping melody, in the Carian's ear;
First heaven, then hell, and then forgotten clear,
Vanish'd in elemental passion.

 And down some swart abysm he had gone,
Had not a heavenly g...Read more of this...

by Pinsky, Robert
...Desired one.
Savior, sentencer--

Absence,
Or presence ever at play:
Let those scorn you who never
Starved in your dearth. If I
Dare to disparage
Your harp of shadows I taste
Wormwood and motor oil, I pour
Ashes on my head. You are the wound. You
Be the medicine....Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...and keep, and of the fruit to eat: 
'Of every tree that in the garden grows 
'Eat freely with glad heart; fear here no dearth: 
'But of the tree whose operation brings 
'Knowledge of good and ill, which I have set 
'The pledge of thy obedience and thy faith, 
'Amid the garden by the tree of life, 
'Remember what I warn thee, shun to taste, 
'And shun the bitter consequence: for know, 
'The day thou eatest thereof, my sole command 
'Transgressed, inevitably thou shalt die, 
'...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...lows, disgorging at seven mouths 
Into the sea: To sojourn in that land 
He comes, invited by a younger son 
In time of dearth; a son, whose worthy deeds 
Raise him to be the second in that realm 
Of Pharaoh: There he dies, and leaves his race 
Growing into a nation, and now grown 
Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks 
To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests 
Or violence, he of their wicked ways 
Shall them admonish; and before them set 
The paths of righteousness, how m...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
..., disgorging at seven mouths 
Into the sea. To sojourn in that land 
He comes, invited by a younger son 
In time of dearth, a son whose worthy deeds 
Raise him to be the second in that realm 
Of Pharaoh. There he dies, and leaves his race 
Growing into a nation, and now grown 
Suspected to a sequent king, who seeks 
To stop their overgrowth, as inmate guests 
Too numerous; whence of guests he makes them slaves 
Inhospitably, and kills their infant males: 
Till by two ...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...either can
Be wed nor single, must not let her mind Build 
thoughts upon a man
Except for hers. Indeed that were no dearth
Were her Lord here, for well she knew his worth,
And when she thought of him her eyes were kind.

IV
Too lately wed to have forgot the wooing. Too 
unaccustomed as a bride to feel
Other than strange delight at her wife's doing. Even at the 
thought a gentle blush would steal
Over her face, and then her lips would frame Some little word 
of...Read more of this...

by Rossetti, Christina
...hter, nor for sound of sighs. 
She hath no questions, she hath no replies, 
 Hush'd in and curtain'd with a blessed dearth 
 Of all that irk'd her from the hour of birth; 
With stillness that is almost Paradise. 
Darkness more clear than noonday holdeth her, 
 Silence more musical than any song; 
Even her very heart has ceased to stir: 
Until the morning of Eternity 
Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be; 
 And when she wakes she will not think it long....Read more of this...

by Muir, Edwin
...ng dull lucre out,
We, fanatics of the frustrate and the half,
Who once set Purgatory Hill in doubt.

Now smoke and dearth and money everywhere,
Mean heirlooms of each fainter generation,
And mummied housegods in their musty niches,
Burns and Scott, sham bards of a sham nation,
And spiritual defeat wrapped warm in riches,
No pride but pride of pelf. Long since the young
Fought in great bloody battles to carve out
This towering pulpit of the Golden Calf,
Montrose, Mack...Read more of this...

by Blake, William
...an measure.

All wholsom food is caught without a net or a trap.
Bring out number weight & measure in a year of dearth.
No bird soars too high. if he soars with his own wings. 

A dead body. revenges not injuries.

The most sublime act is to set another before you.

If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise
Folly is the cloke of knavery.

Shame is Prides cloke. 


PLATE 8

Prisons are built with stones of Law, Brothels...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...ers in our sight:
And thus together - yet apart,
Fetter'd in hand, but join'd in heart,
'Twas still some solace, in the dearth
Of the pure elements of earth,
To hearken to each other's speech,
And each turn comforter to each
With some new hope, or legend old,
So song heroically bold;
But even these at length grew cold.
Our voices took on a dreary tone,
And echo of the dungeon stone,
A grating sound, not full and free,
As they of yore were wont to be;
It might be fancy - b...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...h made no great stir on earth: 
His burial made some pomp; there was profusion 
Of velvet, gilding, brass, and no great dearth 
Of aught but tears — save those shed by collusion. 
For these things may be bought at their true worth; 
Of elegy there was the due infusion — 
Bought also; and the torches, cloaks, and banners, 
Heralds, and relics of old Gothic manners, 

X 

Form'd a sepulchral melo-drame. Of all 
The fools who flack's to swell or see the show, 
Who cared ...Read more of this...

by Miller, Alice Duer
...' she said.
'This is my work. I must stay.'
And she did— the whole long day.

*** 
Out of the dark, and dearth 
Of happiness on earth, 
Out of a world inured to death and pain; 
On a fair spring mom 
To me a son was born, 
And hope was born-the future lived again. 
To me a son was born, 
The lonely hard forlorn 
Travail was, as the Bible tells, forgot. 
How old, how commonplace 
To look upon the face
Of your first-born, and glory in your lot.

To l...Read more of this...

by Dickinson, Emily
...ple Democrat
The Humming Bird -- aspire --

And Whatsoever Insect pass --
A Honey bear away
Proportioned to his several dearth
And her -- capacity --

Her face be rounder than the Moon
And ruddier than the Gown
Or Orchis in the Pasture --
Or Rhododendron -- worn --

She doth not wait for June --
Before the World be Green --
Her sturdy little Countenance
Against the Wind -- be seen --

Contending with the Grass --
Near Kinsman to Herself --
For Privilege of Sod and Sun --
Swee...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Dearth poems.


Book: Reflection on the Important Things