Famous Dover Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Dover poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous dover poems. These examples illustrate what a famous dover poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Paterson, Andrew Barton
...With a sidelong motion he left the place;
For weal or woe he was off his base.
He drove his car to the cliffs of Dover,
Made one short circuit and ran her over.
And the stormy Petrol her rest is taking,
Where only the wild waves do the "braking"....Read more of this...
by
Arnold, Matthew
...The sea is calm to-night.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanch'd land,
Listen! you hea...Read more of this...
by
Lawson, Henry
...s longed for –
Ah! we shall ne'er know how –
The wealth that they were wronged for
We'll see as strangers now!
The Dover cliffs have passed on –
In the morning light aglow –
That our fathers looked their last on
A weary time ago.
Now grin, and grin your bravest!
We need be strong to fight;
For you go home to picture
And I go home to write.
Hold up your head in England,
Tread firm on London streets;
We come from where the strong heart
Of all Australia ...Read more of this...
by
Jones, Richard
...own,
when I saw her coming toward me,
bobbing up and down between waves,
effortlessly doing a breaststroke,
heading for Dover. Treading water
I asked in French if she spoke English,
and she said, "Yes, I'm an American."
I said, "Hey, me too," then asked her out for coffee....Read more of this...
by
Smart, Christopher
...
Let Oldcastle, house of Oldcastle rejoice with Leucopthalmos. God put it in heart of king to repair and beautify Dover Castle.
Let Beeson, house of Beeson rejoice with Pyropus, carbuncle opal. God be gracious to Masters of Yoke's Place.
Let Salmon, house of Salmon rejoice with Sapinos a kind of Amethyst.
Let Crutenden, house of Crutenden rejoice with Veneris Gemma a kind of amethyst.
Let Bridges, house of Bridges rejoice with Jasponyx, which...Read more of this...
by
Goose, Mother
...Leg over leg,As the dog went to Dover;When he came to a stile,Jump, he went over....Read more of this...
by
Alighieri, Dante
...per esser battuta ancor si pente;
ma tosto fia che Padova al palude
canger? l'acqua che Vincenza bagna,
per essere al dover le genti crude;
e dove Sile e Cagnan s'accompagna,
tal signoreggia e va con la testa alta,
che gi? per lui carpir si fa la ragna.
Pianger? Feltro ancora la difalta
de l'empio suo pastor, che sar? sconcia
s?, che per simil non s'entr? in malta.
Troppo sarebbe larga la bigoncia
che ricevesse il sangue ferrarese,
e stanco chi 'l pesasse a oncia...Read more of this...
by
Kipling, Rudyard
...inding the tail of
A homeward-bound convoy,
We slip past the Scillies like poor honest men.
'Twix' the Lizard and Dover,
We hand our stuff over,
Though I may not inform how we do it, nor when.
But a light on each quarter,
Low down on the water,
Is well understanded by poor honest men.
Even then we have dangers,
From meddlesome strangers,
Who spy on our business and are not content
To take a smooth answer,
Except with a handspike . . .
And they say t...Read more of this...
by
Whitman, Walt
...hers sail the Gulf of Mexico, or along Cuba or Hayti—others Hudson’s
Bay or
Baffin’s Bay;
Others pass the Straits of Dover—others enter the Wash—others the Firth of Solway—others
round
Cape Clear—others the Land’s End;
Others traverse the Zuyder Zee, or the Scheld;
Others add to the exits and entrances at Sandy Hook;
Others to the comers and goers at Gibraltar, or the Dardanelles;
Others sternly push their way through the northern winter-packs;
Others descend or asce...Read more of this...
by
Bowles, William Lisle
...On these white cliffs, that calm above the flood
Uplift their shadowing heads, and, at their feet,
Scarce hear the surge that has for ages beat,
Sure many a lonely wanderer has stood;
And whilst the lifted murmur met his ear,
And o'er the distant billows the still eve
Sailed slow, has thought of all his heart must leave
Tomorrow; of the friends he loved mo...Read more of this...
by
Kipling, Rudyard
...her Pagan beauty drew
Christian gentlemen a few
Hotly to attend her.
Christian gentlemen a few
From Berwick unto Dover;
For she was South Africa,
Ana she was South Africa,
She was Our South Africa,
Africa all over!
Half her land was dead with drouth,
Half was red with battle;
She was fenced with fire and sword
Plague on pestilence outpoured,
Locusts on the greening sward
And murrain on the cattle!
True, ah true, and overtrue.
That is why we love her!
For she ...Read more of this...
by
Service, Robert William
...-- I'd rather gamble than sleep.
I've gambled the 'ole world over, from Monte Carlo to Maine;
From Dawson City to Dover, from San Francisco to Spain.
Cards! They 'ave been me ruin. They've taken me pride and me pelf,
And when I'd no one to play with -- why, I'd go and I'd play by meself.
And Sam 'e would sit and watch me, as I shuffled a greasy deck,
And 'e'd say: "You're bound to Perdition,"
And I'd answer: "Git off me neck!"
And that's 'ow we came to get ...Read more of this...
by
Edgar, Marriott
...tackled the sea,
A super-man swimming the ocean,
Then hark to the tale of Joe Lee.
Our Channel, our own Straits of Dover
Had heen swum by an alien lot:
Our British-born swimmers had tried it,
But that was as far as they'd got.
So great was the outcry in England,
Darts Players neglected their beer,
And the Chanc'Ior proclaimed from the Woolsack
As Joe Lee were the chap for this 'ere.
For in swimming baths all round the country
Joe were noted for daring and str...Read more of this...
by
Chaucer, Geoffrey
...rant it thee.
Roger, tell on; and look that it be good,
For many a pasty hast thou letten blood,
And many a Jack of Dover hast thou sold,
That had been twice hot and twice cold.
Of many a pilgrim hast thou Christe's curse,
For of thy parsley yet fare they the worse.
That they have eaten in thy stubble goose:
For in thy shop doth many a fly go loose.
Now tell on, gentle Roger, by thy name,
But yet I pray thee be not *wroth for game*; *angry with my jesting*
...Read more of this...
by
Hecht, Anthony
...ble as they come,
And sometimes I bring her a bottle of Nuit d'Amour.
[Ed. note: See Matthew Arnold's poem "Dover Beach"]...Read more of this...
by
Kipling, Rudyard
...year has shot her yield,
And the ricks stand grey to the sun,
Singing: "Over then, come over, for the bee has quit the dover,
"And your English summer's done."
You have heard the beat of the off-shore wind,
And the thresh of the deep-sea rain;
You have heard the song -- how long? how long?
Pull out on the trail again!
Ha' done with the Tents of Shem, dear lass,
We've seen the seasons through,
And it's time to turn the old trail, our own trail, the out trail,
Pull ou...Read more of this...
by
Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...he frowning rampart, the black cannon
Hailed it with feverish lips.
Sandwich and Romney, Hastings, Hithe, and Dover,
Were all alert that day, 10
To see the French war-steamers speeding over,
When the fog cleared away.
Sullen and silent, and like couchant lions,
Their cannon, through the night,
Holding their breath, had watched, in grim defiance, 15
The sea-coast opposite.
And now they roared at drum-beat from their stations,
On every ci...Read more of this...
by
Miller, Alice Duer
...I
I have loved England, dearly and deeply,
Since that first morning, shining and pure,
The white cliffs of Dover I saw rising steeply
Out of the sea that once made her secure.
I had no thought then of husband or lover,
I was a traveller, the guest of a week;
Yet when they pointed 'the white cliffs of Dover',
Startled I found there were tears on my cheek.
I have loved England, and still as a stranger,
Here is my home and I still am alone.
Now i...Read more of this...
by
McGonagall, William Topaz
...rd by a rope,
While the big waves did lash the barque all over,
But by a merciful providence they were landed safely at Dover.
The survivors when rescued were in a destitute state,
But nevertheless they seemed resigned to their fate,
And they thanked God that did them save
Most timely from a cold and watery grave.
And during their stay in Dover they received kind treatment,
For which they, poor creatures, felt very content;
And when they recovered from their ills ...Read more of this...
by
Bowles, William Lisle
...ON these white cliffs, that calm above the flood
Rear their o'er-shadowing heads, and at their feet
Scarce hear the surge that has for ages beat,
Sure many a lonely wanderer has stood;
And, whilst the lifted murmur met his ear,
And o'er the distant billows the still Eve
Sail'd slow, has thought of all his heart must leave
To-morrow -- of the friends...Read more of this...
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