Famous Ended Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Beowulf (Modern English)

...nd, the shining sea-cliffs,
the steep hills and the broad promontories.
The sea-crossing was sailed, their voyage had ended.
Thence they went swiftly, heroes of the Weder-Geats,
descended onto dry land, restraining the sea-wood—
battle-sarks resounding, their war-weavings—
They thanked God that the wave-path was easy for them. (ll. 210-228)

Then from the wall the Scylding warden spotted them,
who must keep watch over the wave-cliffs,
saw bright bosses borne down th...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,


Beowulf (Old English)

...now could see the land,
sea-cliffs shining, steep high hills,
headlands broad. Their haven was found,
their journey ended. Up then quickly
the Weders’ {3c} clansmen climbed ashore,
anchored their sea-wood, with armor clashing
and gear of battle: God they thanked
or passing in peace o’er the paths of the sea.
Now saw from the cliff a Scylding clansman,
a warden that watched the water-side,
how they bore o’er the gangway glittering shields,
war-gear in readiness; wo...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie

...gs pitched their tents, and mists from the mighty Atlantic
Looked on the happy valley, but ne'er from their station descended
There, in the midst of its farms, reposed the Acadian village.
Strongly built were the houses, with frames of oak and of hemlock,
Such as the peasants of Normandy built in the reign of the Henries.
Thatched were the roofs, with dormer-windows; and gables projecting
Over the basement below protected and shaded the doorway.
There in the tranquil evenings...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

Four Riddles

...:
My Third from heights of wisdom flies
To depths of frantic folly. 

My First is ageing day by day:
My Second's age is ended:
My Third enjoys an age, they say,
That never seems to fade away,
Through centuries extended. 

My Whole? I need a poet's pen
To paint her myriad phases:
The monarch, and the slave, of men -
A mountain-summit, and a den
Of dark and deadly mazes - 

A flashing light - a fleeting shade -
Beginning, end, and middle
Of all that human art hath made
Or wit d...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

Howl

...a sweetheart a package of cigarettes a candle and fell off the bed, and continued along the floor and down the hall and ended fainting on the wall with a vision of ultimate **** and come eluding the last gyzym of consciousness,
who sweetened the snatches of a million girls trembling in the sunset, and were red eyed in the morning but prepared to sweeten the snatch of the sunrise, flashing buttocks under barns and naked in the lake,
who went out whoring through Colorado in m...Read more of this...
by Ginsberg, Allen


Hyperion

...g spot
Where beats the human heart, as if just there,
Though an immortal, she felt cruel pain:
The other upon Saturn's bended neck
She laid, and to the level of his ear
Leaning with parted lips, some words she spake
In solemn tenor and deep organ tone:
Some mourning words, which in our feeble tongue
Would come in these like accents; O how frail
To that large utterance of the early Gods!
"Saturn, look up!---though wherefore, poor old King?
I have no comfort for thee, no not on...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Inferno (English)

...hou 
 The faintest-hearted might be bold." 

 As flowers, 
 Close-folded through the cold and lightless hours, 
 Their bended stems erect, and opening fair 
 Accept the white light and the warmer air 
 Of morning, so my fainting heart anew 
 Lifted, that heard his comfort. Swift I spake, 
 "O courteous thou, and she compassionate! 
 Thy haste that saved me, and her warning true, 
 Beyond my worth exalt me. Thine I make 
 My will. In concord of one mind from now, 
 O Master an...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante

Lara

...once reveal'd 
The secret long and yet but half conceal'd; 
In baring to revive that lifeless breast, 
Its grief seem'd ended, but the sex confess'd; 
And life return'd, and Kaled felt no shame — 
What now to her was Womanhood or Fame? 

XXII. 

And Lara sleeps not where his fathers sleep, 
But where he died his grave was dug as deep; 
Nor is his mortal slumber less profound, 
Though priest nor bless'd, nor marble deck'd the mound; 
And he was mourn'd by one whose quiet grief...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Paradise Lost: Book 02

...with perpetual inroads to alarm, 
Though inaccessible, his fatal throne: 
Which, if not victory, is yet revenge." 
 He ended frowning, and his look denounced 
Desperate revenge, and battle dangerous 
To less than gods. On th' other side up rose 
Belial, in act more graceful and humane. 
A fairer person lost not Heaven; he seemed 
For dignity composed, and high exploit. 
But all was false and hollow; though his tongue 
Dropped manna, and could make the worse appear 
The bette...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 09

...ment 
Remains; sufficient of itself to raise 
That name, unless an age too late, or cold 
Climate, or years, damp my intended wing 
Depress'd; and much they may, if all be mine, 
Not hers, who brings it nightly to my ear. 
The sun was sunk, and after him the star 
Of Hesperus, whose office is to bring 
Twilight upon the earth, short arbiter 
"twixt day and night, and now from end to end 
Night's hemisphere had veil'd the horizon round: 
When satan, who late fled before the th...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Sea Dreams

...the close.' The gentle-hearted wife
Sat shuddering at the ruin of a world;
He at his own: but when the wordy storm
Had ended, forth they came and paced the shore,
Ran in and out the long sea-framing caves,
Drank the large air, and saw, but scarce believed
(The sootflake of so many a summer still
Clung to their fancies) that they saw, the sea.
So now on sand they walk'd, and now on cliff,
Lingering about the thymy promontories,
Till all the sails were darken'd in the west,
An...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Song at Sunset

...SPLENDOR of ended day, floating and filling me! 
Hour prophetic—hour resuming the past! 
Inflating my throat—you, divine average! 
You, Earth and Life, till the last ray gleams, I sing. 

Open mouth of my Soul, uttering gladness,
Eyes of my Soul, seeing perfection, 
Natural life of me, faithfully praising things; 
Corroborating forever the triumph of things. 

Illustrio...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Comedian As The Letter C

...n 
302 Afraid, the blind man as astronomer, 
303 The appointed power unwielded from disdain. 
304 His western voyage ended and began. 
305 The torment of fastidious thought grew slack, 
306 Another, still more bellicose, came on. 
307 He, therefore, wrote his prolegomena, 
308 And, being full of the caprice, inscribed 
309 Commingled souvenirs and prophecies. 
310 He made a singular collation. Thus: 
311 The natives of the rain are rainy men. 
312 Although they pai...Read more of this...
by Stevens, Wallace

The Everlasting Mercy

...at all? 
Why fret and sweat and try to mend? 
It's all the same thing in the end. 
But when it's done," he said, "it's ended. 
Why stand it , since it can't be mended?" 
And in my heart I heard him plain, 
"Throw yourself down and end it, Kane." 

"Why not?" said I. "Why not? But no. 
I won't. I've never had my go. 
I've not had all the world can give. 
Death by and by, but first I'll live. 
The world owes me my time of times, 
And that time's coming now, by crimes." 

A mad...Read more of this...
by Masefield, John

The Hunting Of The Snark

...read out in pathetic tones Admiralty Instructions which none of them had ever been able to understand--so it generally ended in its being fastened on, anyhow, across the rudder. The helmsman* used to stand by with tears in his eyes; he knew it was all wrong, but alas! Rule 42 of the Code, "No one shall speak to the Man at the Helm," had been completed by the Bellman himself with the words "and the Man at the Helm shall speak to no one." So remon{-} strance was impossible, an...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

The Lady of the Lake

...le tried.
     V.

     The noble stag was pausing now
     Upon the mountain's southern brow,
     Where broad extended, far beneath,
     The varied realms of fair Menteith.
     With anxious eye he wandered o'er
     Mountain and meadow, moss and moor,
     And pondered refuge from his toil,
     By far Lochard or Aberfoyle.
     But nearer was the copsewood gray
     That waved and wept on Loch Achray,
     And mingled with the pine-trees blue
     On the bo...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Man of Laws Tale

...without doubt*
His mother slew, that may men plainly read,
For that she traitor was to her liegeance:* *allegiance
Thus ended olde Donegild with mischance.

The sorrow that this Alla night and day
Made for his wife, and for his child also,
There is no tongue that it telle may.
But now will I again to Constance go,
That floated in the sea in pain and woe
Five year and more, as liked Christe's sond,* *decree, command
Ere that her ship approached to the lond.* *land

Under an he...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Shadow

...r the Cardinal
Would certainly be vexed. Of all
His customers the old prelate
Was the most important, for his state
Descended to his watches and rings,
And he gave his mistresses many things
To make them forget his age and smile
When he paid visits, and they could while
The time away with a diamond locket
Exceedingly well. So they picked his pocket,
And he paid in jewels for his slobbering kisses.
This watch was made to buy him blisses
From an Austrian countess on her way
Hom...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

The Waste Land

...iquid - troubled, confused
And drowned the sense in odours; stirred by the air
That freshened from the window, these ascended 
In fattening the prolonged candle-flames,
Flung their smoke into the laquearia,
Stirring the pattern on the coffered ceiling.
Huge sea-wood fed with copper
Burned green and orange, framed by the coloured stone,
In which sad light a carved dolphin swam.
Above the antique mantel was displayed
As though a window gave upon the sylvan scene
The change of P...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)

To Think of Time

...rd
 the last, sicken’d, was help’d by a contribution, died, aged forty-one
 years—and
 that was his funeral. 

Thumb extended, finger uplifted, apron, cape, gloves, strap, wet-weather clothes, whip
 carefully chosen, boss, spotter, starter, hostler, somebody loafing on you, you loafing
 on
 somebody, headway, man before and man behind, good day’s work, bad day’s work,
 pet
 stock, mean stock, first out, last out, turning-in at night;
To think that these are so much and so nig...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

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