Famous Descent Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Absalom And Achitophel

...like common wood.
This set the heathen priesthood in a flame;
For priests of all religions are the same:
Of whatsoe'er descent their godhead be,
Stock, stone, or other homely pedigree,
In his defence his servants are as bold,
As if he had been born of beaten gold.
The Jewish Rabbins though their Enemies,
In this conclude them honest men and wise:
For 'twas their duty, all the learned think,
T'espouse his cause by whom they eat and drink.
From hence began that plot, the natio...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John


Brown's Descent

...ld see
His lantern when he did his chores
 In winter after half-past three.

And many must have seen him make
 His wild descent from there one night,
’Cross lots, ’cross walls, ’cross everything,
 Describing rings of lantern light.

Between the house and barn the gale
 Got him by something he had on
And blew him out on the icy crust
 That cased the world, and he was gone!

Walls were all buried, trees were few:
 He saw no stay unless he stove
A hole in somewhere with his heel...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

Contemplations

...City builds that walls might him secure from foes. 

16 

106 Who thinks not oft upon the Father's ages?
107 Their long descent, how nephews' sons they saw,
108 The starry observations of those Sages,
109 And how their precepts to their sons were law,
110 How Adam sigh'd to see his Progeny
111 Cloth'd all in his black, sinful Livery,
112 Who neither guilt not yet the punishment could fly. 

17 

113 Our life compare we with their length of days.
114 Who to the tenth of theirs...Read more of this...
by Bradstreet, Anne

Endymion: Book II

...stle and turn uneasily about.
Soon were the white doves plain, with necks stretch'd out,
And silken traces lighten'd in descent;
And soon, returning from love's banishment,
Queen Venus leaning downward open arm'd:
Her shadow fell upon his breast, and charm'd
A tumult to his heart, and a new life
Into his eyes. Ah, miserable strife,
But for her comforting! unhappy sight,
But meeting her blue orbs! Who, who can write
Of these first minutes? The unchariest muse
To embracements w...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Faces

...f a healthy honest boy is the programme of all good.

These faces bear testimony, slumbering or awake; 
They show their descent from the Master himself. 

Off the word I have spoken, I except not one—red, white, black, are all deific; 
In each house is the ovum—it comes forth after a thousand years. 

Spots or cracks at the windows do not disturb me;
Tall and sufficient stand behind, and make signs to me; 
I read the promise, and patiently wait. 

This is a full-grown lily’s ...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt


Gertrude of Wyoming

...es, their ninth blue summer shone.

And summer was the tide, and sweet the hour,
When sire and daughter saw, with fleet descent,
An Indian from his bark approach their bower,
Of buskin limb, and swarthy lineament;
The red wild feathers on his brow were blent,
And bracelets bound the arm that help'd to light
A boy, who seem'd, as he beside him went,
Of Christian vesture, and complexion bright,
Led by his dusky guide, like morning brought by night.

Yet pensive seem'd the boy f...Read more of this...
by Campbell, Thomas

Inferno (English)

...show me why the Heavens unclose 
 To loose thee from them, and thyself content 
 Couldst thus continue in such strange descent 
 From that most Spacious Place for which ye burn, 
 And while ye further left, would fain return.' 

 " 'That which thou wouldst,' she said, 'I briefly tell. 
 There is no fear nor any hurt in Hell, 
 Except that it be powerful. God in me 
 Is gracious, that the piteous sights I see 
 I share not, nor myself can shrink to feel 
 The flame of all thi...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante

Light

...tes then to th' Orphean Lyre 
I sung of Chaos and Eternal Night, 
Taught by the heav'nly Muse to venture down 
The dark descent, and up to reascend, 
Though hard and rare: thee I revisit safe, 
And feel thy sovran vital Lamp; but thou 
Revisit'st not these eyes, that rowle in vain 
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; 
So thick a drop serene hath quencht thir Orbs, 
Or dim suffusion veild. Yet not the more 
Cease I to wander where the Muses haunt 
Cleer Spring, or shad...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Man

...ain, which the sun withdraws;
     Music and light attend our head.
     All things unto our flesh are kind
In their descent and being; to our mind
          In their ascent and cause.

          Each thing is full of duty:
Waters united are our navigation;
     Distinguishèd, our habitation;
     Below, our drink; above, our meat;
Both are our cleanliness.  Hath one such beauty?
          Then how are all things neat?

          More servants wait on Man
Than h...Read more of this...
by Herbert, George

Mazeppa

...ce produced some verses,
And signed my odes "Despairing Thyrsis."
There was a certain Palatine,
A Count of far and high descent,
Rich as a salt or silver mine;
And he was proud, ye may divine, 
As if from heaven he had been sent:
He had such wealth in blood and ore
As few could match beneath the throne;
And he would gaze upon his store, 
And o'er his pedigree would pore, 
Until by some confusion led,
Which almost looked like want of head,
He thought their merits were his own....Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Paradise Lost: Book 02

...no deep within her gulf can hold 
Immortal vigour, though oppressed and fallen, 
I give not Heaven for lost: from this descent 
Celestial Virtues rising will appear 
More glorious and more dread than from no fall, 
And trust themselves to fear no second fate!-- 
Me though just right, and the fixed laws of Heaven, 
Did first create your leader--next, free choice 
With what besides in council or in fight 
Hath been achieved of merit--yet this loss, 
Thus far at least recovered...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 03

...tes than to the Orphean lyre 
I sung of Chaos and eternal Night; 
Taught by the heavenly Muse to venture down 
The dark descent, and up to re-ascend, 
Though hard and rare: Thee I revisit safe, 
And feel thy sovran vital lamp; but thou 
Revisit'st not these eyes, that roll in vain 
To find thy piercing ray, and find no dawn; 
So thick a drop serene hath quench'd their orbs, 
Or dim suffusion veil'd. Yet not the more 
Cease I to wander, where the Muses haunt, 
Clear spring, or...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 09

...brake, where hap may find 
The serpent sleeping; in whose mazy folds 
To hide me, and the dark intent I bring. 
O foul descent! that I, who erst contended 
With Gods to sit the highest, am now constrained 
Into a beast; and, mixed with bestial slime, 
This essence to incarnate and imbrute, 
That to the highth of Deity aspired! 
But what will not ambition and revenge 
Descend to? Who aspires, must down as low 
As high he soared; obnoxious, first or last, 
To basest things. Re...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 10

...of our extremes, 
Or end; though sharp and sad, yet tolerable, 
As in our evils, and of easier choice. 
If care of our descent perplex us most, 
Which must be born to certain woe, devoured 
By Death at last; and miserable it is 
To be to others cause of misery, 
Our own begotten, and of our loins to bring 
Into this cursed world a woeful race, 
That after wretched life must be at last 
Food for so foul a monster; in thy power 
It lies, yet ere conception to prevent 
The race...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 11

...eir prey; 
With whose stolen fruit Man once more to delude. 
He ceased; and the arch-angelick Power prepared 
For swift descent; with him the cohort bright 
Of watchful Cherubim: four faces each 
Had, like a double Janus; all their shape 
Spangled with eyes more numerous than those 
Of Argus, and more wakeful than to drouse, 
Charmed with Arcadian pipe, the pastoral reed 
Of Hermes, or his opiate rod. Mean while, 
To re-salute the world with sacred light, 
Leucothea waked; an...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 12

...n in the vale of Aialon, 
'Till Israel overcome! so call the third 
From Abraham, son of Isaac; and from him 
His whole descent, who thus shall Canaan win. 
Here Adam interposed. O sent from Heaven, 
Enlightener of my darkness, gracious things 
Thou hast revealed; those chiefly, which concern 
Just Abraham and his seed: now first I find 
Mine eyes true-opening, and my heart much eased; 
Erewhile perplexed with thoughts, what would become 
Of me and all mankind: But now I see ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Samson Agonistes

...ongest of mortal men,
To lowest pitch of abject fortune thou art fall'n.
For him I reckon not in high estate 
Whom long descent of birth
Or the sphear of fortune raises;
But thee whose strength, while vertue was her mate
Might have subdu'd the Earth,
Universally crown'd with highest praises.

Sam: I hear the sound of words, thir sense the air
Dissolves unjointed e're it reach my ear.

Chor: Hee speaks, let us draw nigh. Matchless in might,
The glory late of Israel, now the gr...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

The Generations of Men

.... 
Perhaps you have the art of what I mean. 
I've never listened in among the sounds 
That a brook makes in such a wild descent. 
It ought to give a purer oracle." 
"It's as you throw a picture on a screen: 
The meaning of it all is out of you; 
The voices give you what you wish to hear." 
"Strangely, it's anything they wish to give." 
"Then I don't know. It must be strange enough. 
I wonder if it's not your make-believe. 
What do you think you're like to hear to-day?" 
"From...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

The Lady of the Lake

...ng,
     And echoed loud the flinty street
     Beneath the coursers' clattering feet,
     As slowly down the steep descent
     Fair Scotland's King and nobles went,
     While all along the crowded way
     Was jubilee and loud huzza.
     And ever James was bending low
     To his white jennet's saddle-bow,
     Doffing his cap to city dame,
     Who smiled and blushed for pride and shame.
     And well the simperer might be vain,—
     He chose the fairest of...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Wife of Baths Tale

...r old richess. *ancestors
For though they gave us all their heritage,
For which we claim to be of high parage,* *birth, descent
Yet may they not bequeathe, for no thing,
To none of us, their virtuous living
That made them gentlemen called to be,
And bade us follow them in such degree.
Well can the wise poet of Florence,
That highte Dante, speak of this sentence:* *sentiment
Lo, in such manner* rhyme is Dante's tale. *kind of
'Full seld'* upriseth by his branches smale *seldom...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

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