Famous Endeavor Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Porphyrias Lover

by Robert Browning
 The rain set early in tonight, 
 The sullen wind was soon awake, 
It tore the elm-tops down for spite, 
 And did its worst to vex the lake: 
 I listened with heart fit to break. 
When glided in Porphyria; straight 
 She shut the cold out and the storm, 
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate 
...Read more of this...

The Bells

by Edgar Allan Poe
 I

Hear the sledges with the bells-
Silver bells!
What a world of merriment their melody foretells!
How they tinkle, tinkle, tinkle,
In the icy air of night!
While the stars that oversprinkle
All the heavens, seem to twinkle
With a crystalline delight;
Keeping time, time, time,
In a sort of Runic rhyme,
To the tintinnabulation that so musically wells
From the bells, bells, bells, bells,
Bells, bells, bells-
From the jingling and...Read more of this...

God Is In His Holy Temple

by Anonymous
God is in His holy temple;Thoughts of earth be silent now,While with reverence we assemble,And before His presence bow.He is with us, now and ever,While we call upon His name,Aiding every good endeavor,Guiding every upward aim.God is in His holy temple,—In the pure and humble mind;In the reverent heart and simple;In the soul from sense refined.Then let every low emotionBanished...Read more of this...

Youll know Her -- by Her Foot --

by Emily Dickinson
 You'll know Her -- by Her Foot --
The smallest Gamboge Hand
With Fingers -- where the Toes should be --
Would more affront the Sand --

Than this Quaint Creature's Boot --
Adjusted by a Stern --
Without a Button -- I could vouch --
Unto a Velvet Limb --

You'll know Her -- by Her Vest --
Tight fitting -- Orange -- Brown --
Inside a Jacket...Read more of this...

To A Lady

by George (Lord) Byron
 O! had my Fate been join'd with thine,
As once this pledge appear'd a token,
These follies had not, then, been mine,
For, then, my peace had not been broken.

To thee, these early faults I owe,
To thee, the wise and old reproving:
They know my sins, but do not know
'Twas thine to break the bonds of loving.

For once my soul, like thine, was...Read more of this...

Song

by Amy Lowell
 Oh! To be a flower
Nodding in the sun,
Bending, then upspringing
As the breezes run;
Holding up
A scent-brimmed cup,
Full of summer's fragrance to the summer sun.
Oh! To be a butterfly
Still, upon a flower,
Winking with its painted wings,
Happy in the hour.
Blossoms hold
Mines of gold
Deep within the farthest heart of each chaliced flower.
Oh! To be a cloud
Blowing through the blue,
Shadowing the mountains,
Rushing loudly through
Valleys...Read more of this...

The Falconer of God

by William Rose Benet
 I flung my soul to the air like a falcon flying. 
I said, "Wait on, wait on, while I ride below! 
 I shall start a heron soon 
 In the marsh beneath the moon -- 
A strange white heron rising with silver on its wings, 
 Rising and crying 
 Wordless, wondrous things; 
The secret of the stars,...Read more of this...

Tin Wedding Whistle

by Ogden Nash
 Though you know it anyhow 
Listen to me, darling, now, 
Proving what I need not prove 
How I know I love you, love. 
Near and far, near and far, 
I am happy where you are; 
Likewise I have never larnt 
How to be it where you aren't. 
Far and wide, far and wide, 
I can walk with you beside;...Read more of this...

A Prison gets to be a friend --

by Emily Dickinson
 A Prison gets to be a friend --
Between its Ponderous face
And Ours -- a Kinsmanship express --
And in its narrow Eyes --

We come to look with gratitude
For the appointed Beam
It deal us -- stated as our food --
And hungered for -- the same --

We learn to know the Planks --
That answer to Our feet --
So miserable a sound --...Read more of this...

Before you are made drunk by the cup of death, before

by Omar Khayyam
Before you are made drunk by the cup of death, before
the revolutions of time are full behind you, endeavor
to make a foundation here below, for you will profit
nothing by going away empty-handed....Read more of this...

Seaweed

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
WHEN descends on the Atlantic 
The gigantic 
Storm-wind of the equinox  
Landward in his wrath he scourges 
The toiling surges 5 
Laden with seaweed from the rocks: 

From Bermuda's reefs; from edges 
Of sunken ledges  
In some far-off bright Azore; 
From Bahama and the dashing 10 
Silver-flashing 
Surges of San Salvador; 

From the tumbling surf that buries 
The...Read more of this...

Dont put up my Thread and Needle --

by Emily Dickinson
 Don't put up my Thread and Needle --
I'll begin to Sew
When the Birds begin to whistle --
Better Stitches -- so --

These were bent -- my sight got crooked --
When my mind -- is plain
I'll do seams -- a Queen's endeavor
Would not blush to own --

Hems -- too fine for Lady's tracing
To the sightless Knot --
Tucks -- of dainty interspersion...Read more of this...

On the Bay

by Lucy Maud Montgomery
 When the salt wave laps on the long, dim shore,
And frets the reef with its windy sallies,
And the dawn's white light is threading once more
The purple firs in the landward valleys, 
While yet the arms of the wide gray sea 
Are cradling the sunrise that is to be, 
The fisherman's boat, through the mist afar, 
Has sailed in the...Read more of this...

An Island

by Edwin Arlington Robinson
 Take it away, and swallow it yourself. 
Ha! Look you, there’s a rat. 
Last night there were a dozen on that shelf, 
And two of them were living in my hat. 
Look! Now he goes, but he’ll come back—
Ha? But he will, I say … 
Il reviendra-z-à Pâques, 
Ou à la Trinité …
Be very sure that he’ll return again;...Read more of this...

Fit the Fifth ( Hunting of the Snark )

by Lewis Carroll
 The Beaver's Lesson 

They sought it with thimbles, they sought it with care; 
They pursued it with forks and hope; 
They threatened its life with a railway-share; 
They charmed it with smiles and soap. 

Then the Butcher contrived an ingenious plan 
For making a separate sally; 
And fixed on a spot unfrequented by man, 
A dismal and desolate valley....Read more of this...

In A Eweleaze Near Weatherbury

by Thomas Hardy
 THE years have gathered grayly
Since I danced upon this leaze
With one who kindled gayly
Love's fitful ecstasies!
But despite the term as teacher,
I remain what I was then
In each essential feature
Of the fantasies of men.

Yet I note the little chisel
Of ever-napping Time,
Defacing ghast and grizzel
The blazon of my prime.
When at night he thinks me sleeping,
I feel him boring sly
Within my bones,...Read more of this...

The Sewing-Girl

by Robert William Service
 The humble garret where I dwell
Is in that Quarter called the Latin;
It isn't spacious -- truth to tell,
There's hardly room to swing a cat in.
But what of that! It's there I fight
For food and fame, my Muse inviting,
And all the day and half the night
You'll find me writing, writing, writing.

Now, it was in the month of May
As, wrestling with...Read more of this...

Summer

by Amy Lowell
 Some men there are who find in nature all
Their inspiration, hers the sympathy
Which spurs them on to any great endeavor,
To them the fields and woods are closest friends,
And they hold dear communion with the hills;
The voice of waters soothes them with its fall,
And the great winds bring healing in their sound.
To them a city is a prison house
Where pent...Read more of this...

Success

by Emma Lazarus
 Oft have I brooded on defeat and pain, 
The pathos of the stupid, stumbling throng. 
These I ignore to-day and only long 
To pour my soul forth in one trumpet strain, 
One clear, grief-shattering, triumphant song, 
For all the victories of man's high endeavor, 
Palm-bearing, laurel deeds that live forever, 
The splendor clothing him whose will is strong. 
Hast...Read more of this...

Spiritual Blessings

by Anonymous
Almighty Father! Thou hast many blessingsIn store for every loving child of Thine;For this I pray,—Let me, Thy grace possessing,Seek to be guided by Thy will divine.Not for earth’s treasures,—for her joys the dearest,—Would I my supplications raise to Thee;Not for the hopes that to my heart are nearest,But only that I give that heart to Thee.I pray that Thou...Read more of this...

Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead

by Emily Dickinson
 Her Sweet turn to leave the Homestead
Came the Darker Way --
Carriages -- Be Sure -- and Guests -- too --
But for Holiday

'Tis more pitiful Endeavor
Than did Loaded Sea
O'er the Curls attempt to caper
It had cast away --

Never Bride had such Assembling --
Never kinsmen kneeled
To salute so fair a Forehead --
Garland be indeed --

Fitter Feet -- of Her before us...Read more of this...

The Day is Done

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
THE DAY is done and the darkness 
Falls from the wings of Night  
As a feather is wafted downward 
From an eagle in his flight. 

I see the lights of the village 5 
Gleam through the rain and the mist  
And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me 
That my soul cannot resist: 

A feeling of sadness and...Read more of this...

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