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Famous Envying Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...ad a safe, a humble life 
'Midst his own native hills; romantic scenes, 
Such as the muse of Greece did feign so well, 
Envying their lovely bow'rs to mortal race. 



LEANDER. 
Long has the rural life been justly fam'd; 
And poets old their pleasing pictures drew 
Of flow'ry meads, and groves and gliding streams. 
Hence old Arcadia, woodnymphs, satyrs, fauns, 
And hence Elysium, fancy'd heav'n below. 
Fair agriculture, not unworthy kings, 
Once exercis'd the royal hand, or t...Read more of this...
by Brackenridge, Hugh Henry



...y from me 
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels not half so happy in heaven 
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know 
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night 
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above 
Nor the demons down unde...Read more of this...
by Poe, Edgar Allan
...best Hellene!
And her breast with rapture swelling,
All its bliss can scarcely know;
E'en the Gods in heavenly dwelling
Envying not, when dreaming so."

"He to whom my heart is plighted
Stood before my ravished eye,
And his look, by passion lighted,
Toward me turned imploringly.
With the loved one, oh, how gladly
Homeward would I take my flight
But a Stygian shadow sadly
Steps between us every night."

"Cruel Proserpine is sending
All her spectres pale to me;
Ever on my steps...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von
...
That I may show my laughter and my light--
Light like the sun's by day, the stars' by night--
Till rival heart-queens, envying, wail, 'Alas,
Her glory!' as they pass."

"O maid misled!"
He sternly said,
Whose facile foresight pierced her dire;
"Where shall abide the soul when, sick of glee,
It shrinks, and hides, and prays no eye may see?
Those house them best who house for secrecy,
For you will tire."

"A little chamber, then, with swan and dove
Ranged thickly, and engraile...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas
...light and smell divine
Of all flowers that breathe and shine:
We may live so happy there,
That the Spirits of the Air,
Envying us, may even entice
To our healing Paradise
The polluting multitude;
But their rage would be subdued
By that clime divine and calm,
And the winds whose wings rain balm
On the uplifted soul, and leaves
Under which the bright sea heaves;
While each breathless interval
In their whisperings musical
The inspired soul supplies
With its own deep melodies;
A...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe



...t possesses me, lest harm 
Befall thee severed from me; for thou knowest 
What hath been warned us, what malicious foe 
Envying our happiness, and of his own 
Despairing, seeks to work us woe and shame 
By sly assault; and somewhere nigh at hand 
Watches, no doubt, with greedy hope to find 
His wish and best advantage, us asunder; 
Hopeless to circumvent us joined, where each 
To other speedy aid might lend at need: 
Whether his first design be to withdraw 
Our fealty from Go...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...rget.Another work, than my young leaves more bright,I thought to show: what envying evil starSnatch'd thee, my noble treasure, thus from me?So soon who hides thee from my fond heart's sight,And from thy praise my loving tongue would bar?My soul has rest, sweet sigh! alone in thee. Macgregor. 
Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco
..."

Said I: "You are right, maybe:
Witting naught of wordly woe,
Gloriously you are free,
And of death you nothing know.
Envying your monkey mind,
Innocent of blight and bale,
As I touch my bald behind
How I wish I had a tail!"

So in toils of trouble caught,
Oft I wonder with a sigh
If that blue-bummed ape is not
 Happier than I?...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William
...ce:
Or how to pay thy hinds, and clear
All scores: and so to end the year:
But walk'st about thine own dear bounds,
Not envying others' larger grounds:
For well thou know'st, 'tis not th' extent
Of land makes life, but sweet content.
When now the cock (the ploughman's horn)
Calls forth the lily-wristed morn;
Then to thy corn-fields thou dost go,
Which though well soil'd, yet thou dost know
That the best compost for the lands
Is the wise master's feet, and hands.
There at the ...Read more of this...
by Herrick, Robert
...d peerelesse pretious stone:
Yet her bright blazing beautie did assay
To dim the brightnesse of her glorious throne,
As envying her selfe, that too exceeding shone.

ix

Exceeding shone, like Phoebus fairest childe,
That did presume his fathers firie wayne,
And flaming mouthes of steedes unwonted wilde
Through highest heaven with weaker hand to rayne;
Proud of such glory and advancement vaine,
While flashing beames do daze his feeble eyen,
He leaves the welkin way most beaten...Read more of this...
by Spenser, Edmund
...ell divine 
Of all flowers that breathe and shine. 
¡ªWe may live so happy there, 170 
That the Spirits of the Air 
Envying us, may ev'n entice 
To our healing paradise 
The polluting multitude: 
But their rage would be subdued 175 
By that clime divine and calm, 
And the winds whose wings rain balm 
On the uplifted soul, and leaves 
Under which the bright sea heaves; 
While each breathless interval 180 
In their whisperings musical 
The inspir¨¨d soul supplies ...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things