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Famous Devon Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...HOW pleasant the banks of the clear winding Devon,
 With green spreading bushes and flow’rs blooming fair!
But the boniest flow’r on the banks of the Devon
 Was once a sweet bud on the braes of the Ayr.
Mild be the sun on this sweet blushing flower,
 In the gay rosy morn, as it bathes in the dew;
And gentle the fall of the soft vernal shower,
 That steals on the evening each leaf to renew!


O spa...Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
...Chorus—Fairest maid on Devon banks,
 Crystal Devon, winding Devon,
Wilt thou lay that frown aside,
 And smile as thou wert wont to do?


FULL well thou know’st I love thee dear,
Couldst thou to malice lend an ear!
O did not Love exclaim: “Forbear,
 Nor use a faithful lover so.”
 Fairest maid, &c.


Then come, thou fairest of the fair,
Those wonted smiles, O let me share;
A...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...sn't do to think.
So I closed my eyes a little, and I had a niceish dream
Of a-standin' by a dresser with a dish of Devon cream;
But I hadn't time to sample it, for suddenlike I woke:
"Come on, me lads!" the Captain says, 'n I climbed out through the smoke.
We spread out in the open: it was like a bath of lead;
But the boys they cheered and hollered fit to raise the bloody dead,
Till a beastly bullet copped 'em, then they lay without a sound,
And it's odd -- we didn't...Read more of this...

by Muldoon, Paul
...ady themselves and straight away divine
water in some far-flung spot
to which they then gravely incline. This is no Devon

cow-coterie, by the way, whey-faced, with Spode
hooves and horns: nor are they the metaphysicattle of Japan
that have merely to anticipate

scoring a bull's-eye and, lo, it happens;
these are earth-flesh, earth-blood, salt of the earth,
whose talismans are their own jawbones

buried under threshold and hearth.
For though they trace themselves to t...Read more of this...

by Herrick, Robert
...More discontents I never had
Since I was born, than here;
Where I have been, and still am, sad,
In this dull Devonshire.
Yet justly too I must confess,
I ne'er invented such
Ennobled numbers for the press,
Than where I loath'd so much....Read more of this...



by Newbolt, Sir Henry
...ore-lights flashin', an' the night-tide dashin', 
He sees et arl so plainly as he saw et long ago. 

Drake he was a Devon man, an' ruled the Devon seas, 
(Capten, art tha' sleepin' there below?) 
Roving' tho' his death fell, he went wi' heart at ease, 
A' dreamin' arl the time o' Plymouth Hoe. 
"Take my drum to England, hang et by the shore, 
Strike et when your powder's runnin' low; 
If the Dons sight Devon, I'll quit the port o' Heaven, 
An' drum them up the Channel...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
..., and of so few words, and seemed 
So justified by that necessity, 
That though he thought 'was it for him she wept 
In Devon?' he but gave a wrathful groan, 
Saying, 'Your sweet faces make good fellows fools 
And traitors. Call the host and bid him bring 
Charger and palfrey.' So she glided out 
Among the heavy breathings of the house, 
And like a household Spirit at the walls 
Beat, till she woke the sleepers, and returned: 
Then tending her rough lord, though all u...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...He hurried away, young heart of joy, under our Devon sky!
And I watched him go, my beautiful boy, and a weary woman was I.
For my hair is grey, and his was gold; he'd the best of his life to live;
And I'd loved him so, and I'm old, I'm old; and he's all I had to give.

Ah yes, he was proud and swift and gay, but oh how my eyes were dim!
With the sun in his heart he went away, but he took the sun ...Read more of this...

by Padel, Ruth
...ter. Chestnut curls,

*

commas behind the ear.
"Taller, by half a head, 
than my Lord Walsingham."

*

His Devon-cream brogue,
malt eyes. New cloak 
mussed in her mud.

*

The Queen leans forward,
a rosy envelope of civet.
A cleavage

*

whispering seed pearls.
Her own sleeve 
rubs that speck of dirt

*

on his cheek. Three thousand 
ornamental fruit baskets
swing in the smoke.

*

"It is our pleasure 
to have our servant trained 
some lon...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...Oh, there's some that breeds the Devon that's as solid as a stone, 
And there's some that breeds the brindle which they call the "Goulburn Roan"; 
But amongst the breeds of cattle there are very, very few 
Like the hairy-whiskered bullock that they breed at Gundaroo. 
Far away by Grabben Gullen, where the Murrumbidgee flows, 
There's a block of broken country-side where no one ever goes...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...The brave Geraint, a knight of Arthur's court, 
A tributary prince of Devon, one 
Of that great Order of the Table Round, 
Had married Enid, Yniol's only child, 
And loved her, as he loved the light of Heaven. 
And as the light of Heaven varies, now 
At sunrise, now at sunset, now by night 
With moon and trembling stars, so loved Geraint 
To make her beauty vary day by day, 
In crimsons and in purples and in gems. 
And...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...mmer heaven; 
But Sir Richard bore in hand all his sick men from the land 
Very carefully and slow, 
Men of Bideford in Devon, 
And we laid them on the ballast down below; 
For we brought them all aboard, 
And they blest him in their pain, that they were not left to Spain, 
To the thumbscrew and the stake, for the glory of the Lord. 

He had only a hundred seamen to work the ship and to fight, 
And he sailed away from Flores till the Spaniard came in sight, 
With his huge...Read more of this...

by Miller, Alice Duer
...still.

But a day came when I was forced to face
Facts. I was taken down to see the place,
The family place in Devon— and John's mother.
'Of course, you understand,' he said, 'my brother
Will have the place.' He smiled; he was so sure
The world was better for primogeniture.
And yet he loved that place, as Englishmen
Do love their native countryside, and when
The day should be as it was sure to be—
When this was home no more to him— when he
Could go there ...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...Where be ye going, you Devon maid?
 And what have ye there i' the basket?
Ye tight little fairy, just fresh from the dairy,
 Will ye give me some cream if I ask it?

I love your meads, and I love your flowers,
 And I love your junkets mainly,
But 'hind the door, I love kissing more,
 O look not so disdainly!

I love your hills, and I love your dales,
 And I love your flocks a-blea...Read more of this...

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Book: Shattered Sighs