Famous Empress Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Eloisa to Abelard

...alone.
Should at my feet the world's great master fall,
Himself, his throne, his world, I'd scorn 'em all:
Not Caesar's empress would I deign to prove;
No, make me mistress to the man I love;
If there be yet another name more free,
More fond than mistress, make me that to thee!
Oh happy state! when souls each other draw,
When love is liberty, and nature, law:
All then is full, possessing, and possess'd,
No craving void left aching in the breast:
Ev'n thought meets thought, er...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander


Endymion: Book IV

...silver name upon the meadow's face.
I'll kneel to Vesta, for a flame of fire;
And to god Phoebus, for a golden lyre;
To Empress Dian, for a hunting spear;
To Vesper, for a taper silver-clear,
That I may see thy beauty through the night;
To Flora, and a nightingale shall light
Tame on thy finger; to the River-gods,
And they shall bring thee taper fishing-rods
Of gold, and lines of Naiads' long bright tress.
Heaven shield thee for thine utter loveliness!
Thy mossy footstool sha...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Four Riddles

...t MAY mean much, but how is one to know?
He opens his mouth - yet out of it, methinks,
No words of wisdom flow. 


II 

Empress of Art, for thee I twine
This wreath with all too slender skill.
Forgive my Muse each halting line,
And for the deed accept the will! 


O day of tears! Whence comes this spectre grim,
Parting, like Death's cold river, souls that love?
Is not he bound to thee, as thou to him,
By vows, unwhispered here, yet heard above? 

And still it lives, that keen...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

Gentlmen-Rankers

...brethren in their sorrow overseas,
Sings a gentleman of England cleanly bred, machinely crammed,
 And a trooper of the Empress, if you please.
Yea, a trooper of the forces who has run his own six horses,
 And faith he went the pace and went it blind,
And the world was more than kin while he held the ready tin,
 But to-day the Sergeant's something less than kind.
 We're poor little lambs who've lost our way,
 Baa! Baa! Baa!
 We're little black sheep who've gone astray,
 Baa--...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

Hiawathas Photographing

...uld have her picture taken.
She came dressed beyond description,
Dressed in jewels and in satin
Far too gorgeous for an empress.
Gracefully she sat down sideways,
With a simper scarcely human,
Holding in her hand a bouquet
Rather larger than a cabbage.
All the while that she was sitting,
Still the lady chattered, chattered,
Like a monkey in the forest.
"Am I sitting still?" she asked him.
"Is my face enough in profile?
Shall I hold the bouquet higher?
Will it came into the pi...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis


In Honour of that High and Mighty Princess Queen ELIZABETH

...ame: 
2.65 Of her what worth in Story's to be seen, 
2.66 But that she was a rich Ægyptian Queen. 
2.67 Zenobia, potent Empress of the East, 
2.68 And of all these without compare the best 
2.69 (Whom none but great Aurelius could quell) 
2.70 Yet for our Queen is no fit parallel: 
2.71 She was a Ph{oe}nix Queen, so shall she be, 
2.72 Her ashes not reviv'd more Ph{oe}nix she. 
2.73 Her personal perfections, who would tell, 
2.74 Must dip his Pen i' th' Heliconian Well, 
2.75...Read more of this...
by Bradstreet, Anne

Inferno (English)

...rive anigh 
 So scourged amidst the blackness?" 

 "These," he said, 
 "So lashed and harried, by that queen are led, 
 Empress of alien tongues, Semiramis, 
 Who made her laws her lawless lusts to kiss, 
 So was she broken by desire; and this 
 Who comes behind, back-blown and beaten thus, 
 Love's fool, who broke her faith to Sich?us, 
 Dido; and bare of all her luxury, 
 Nile's queen, who lost her realm for Antony." 

 And after these, amidst that windy train, 
 Helen, who...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante

Jubilate Agno: Fragment D

...ah. 

Let Cunningham, house of Cunningham rejoice with The Bohemian Jay. I pray for Peace between the K. of Prussia and Empress Queen. 

Let Thornhill, house of Thornhill rejoice with The Albicore a Sea Bird. God be gracious to Hogarth his wife. Blessed be the name of the Lord Jesus at Adgecomb. 

Let Dawn, house of Dawn rejoice with The Frigate Bird which is found upon the coasts of India. 

Let Horton, house of Horton rejoice with Birdlime -- Blessed be the name of the Lord...Read more of this...
by Smart, Christopher

Live

...llet costumes.

Here,
all along,
thinking I was a killer,
anointing myself daily
with my little poisons.
But no.
I'm an empress.
I wear an apron.
My typewriter writes.
It didn't break the way it warned.
Even crazy, I'm as nice
as a chocolate bar.
Even with the witches' gymnastics
they trust my incalculable city,
my corruptible bed.

O dearest three,
I make a soft reply.
The witch comes on
and you paint her pink.
I come with kisses in my hood
and the sun, the smart one,
rollin...Read more of this...
by Sexton, Anne

Mac Flecknoe

...rom his pen should flow;
Humorists and hypocrites it should produce,
Whole Raymond families, and tribes of Bruce.

 Now Empress Fame had publisht the renown,
Of Shadwell's coronation through the town.
Rous'd by report of fame, the nations meet,
From near Bun-Hill, and distant Watling-street.
No Persian carpets spread th'imperial way,
But scatter'd limbs of mangled poets lay:
From dusty shops neglected authors come,
Martyrs of pies, and reliques of the bum.
Much Heywood, Shirl...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John

Malmaison

...oses at her belt melt, petal by petal, into the 
pink water.

IV
A vile day, Porter. But keep your wits 
about you. The Empress
will soon be here. *****, without the Emperor! It 
is indeed,
but best not consider that. Scratch your head and prick 
up your ears.
Divorce is not for you to debate about. She is late? Ah, 
well,
the roads are muddy. The rain spears are as sharp as 
whetted knives.
They dart down and down, edged and shining. Clop-trop! Clop-trop!
A carriage grows ou...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

Niobe in Distress

...ot unknown to fame,
"And Phrygian nations all revere my name.
"Where'er I turn my eyes vast wealth I find,
"Lo! here an empress with a goddess join'd.
"What, shall a Titaness be deify'd,
"To whom the spacious earth a couch deny'd!
"Nor heav'n, nor earth, nor sea receiv'd your queen,
"Till pitying Delos took the wand'rer in.
"Round me what a large progeny is spread!
"No frowns of fortune has my soul to dread.
"What if indignant she decrease my train
"More than Latona's number ...Read more of this...
by Wheatley, Phillis

Paradise Lost: Book 09

...kind, that daily are in sight? 
Say, for such wonder claims attention due. 
To whom the guileful Tempter thus replied. 
Empress of this fair world, resplendent Eve! 
Easy to me it is to tell thee all 
What thou commandest; and right thou shouldst be obeyed: 
I was at first as other beasts that graze 
The trodden herb, of abject thoughts and low, 
As was my food; nor aught but food discerned 
Or sex, and apprehended nothing high: 
Till, on a day roving the field, I chanced 
A ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Passage to India

...for thee, of tableaus twain, 
I see, in one, the Suez canal initiated, open’d, 
I see the procession of steamships, the Empress Eugenie’s leading the van;
I mark, from on deck, the strange landscape, the pure sky, the level sand in the distance;

I pass swiftly the picturesque groups, the workmen gather’d, 
The gigantic dredging machines. 

In one, again, different, (yet thine, all thine, O soul, the same,) 
I see over my own continent the Pacific Railroad, surmounting every ...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Hammers

...o you?
Very well, we'll halve
The compliments, also the pastes and dentifrices;
Send some to the Kings, and some to the Empresses.
`Oil of Bitter Almonds' -- the Empress Josephine can have that.
`Oil of Parma Violets' fits the other one pat."
Rap! Rap! Bang!
"What a hideous clatter!
Blaise seems determined to batter
That poor old turkey into bits,
And pound to jelly my excellent wits.
Come, come, Martin, you mustn't shirk.
`The night cometh soon' -- etc. Don't jerk
Me up like...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

The Lady of the Lake

...aks,
     Sweeps through the plain, and ceaseless mines
     On Bochastle the mouldering lines,
     Where Rome, the Empress of the world,
     Of yore her eagle wings unfurled.
     And here his course the Chieftain stayed,
     Threw down his target and his plaid,
     And to the Lowland warrior said:
     'Bold Saxon! to his promise just,
     Vich-Alpine has discharged his trust.
     This murderous Chief, this ruthless man,
     This head of a rebellious clan,...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Poets Calendar

...uthward the clamorous sea-fowl wing their flight; 
The hedges are all red with haws and hips, 
The Hunter's Moon reigns empress of the night. 

October 

My ornaments are fruits; my garments leaves, 
Woven like cloth of gold, and crimson dyed; 
I do no boast the harvesting of sheaves, 
O'er orchards and o'er vineyards I preside. 
Though on the frigid Scorpion I ride, 
The dreamy air is full, and overflows 
With tender memories of the summer-tide, 
And mingled voices of the do...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

The Queens Jubilee Celebrations

...
And the cavalry took forty minutes to trot past,
While the spectators in silent wonder stood aghast. 

Her Majesty the Empress Frederick a great sensation made,
She was one of the chief attractions in the whole cavalcade;
And in her carriage was the Princess Louise, the Marchioness of Lorne,
In a beautiful white dress, which did per person adorn. 

The scene in Piccadilly caused a great sensation,
The grand decorations there were the theme of admiration;
And the people in St...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

The Silent Lover ii

...WRONG not, sweet empress of my heart, 
 The merit of true passion, 
With thinking that he feels no smart, 
 That sues for no compassion. 

Silence in love bewrays more woe 
 Than words, though ne'er so witty: 
A beggar that is dumb, you know, 
 May challenge double pity. 

Then wrong not, dearest to my heart, 
 My true, though secret passion; 
He smarteth most that hides his...Read more of this...
by Raleigh, Sir Walter

To India

...fold sound 
To crescent honours, splendours, victories vast; 
Waken, O slumbering Mother and be crowned, 
Who once wert empress of the sovereign Past....Read more of this...
by Naidu, Sarojini

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