Famous Ere Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

Modern Love XLVI: At Last We Parley

by George Meredith
 At last we parley: we so strangely dumb
In such a close communion! It befell
About the sounding of the Matin-bell,
And lo! her place was vacant, and the hum
Of loneliness was round me. Then I rose,
And my disordered brain did guide my foot
To that old wood where our first love-salute
Was interchanged: the source of many throes!
There did I see her, not...Read more of this...

Whilom, ere youth's conceit had waned, methought

by Omar Khayyam
Whilom, ere youth's conceit had waned, methought
Answers to all life's problems I had wrought;
But now, grown old and wise, too late I see
My life is spent, and all my lore is naught....Read more of this...

Clorinda And Damon

by Andrew Marvell
 C.
Damon come drive thy flocks this way.

D.
No : 'tis too late they went astray.

C.
I have a grassy Scutcheon spy'd,
Where Flora blazons all her pride.
The grass I aim to feast thy Sheep :
The Flow'rs I for thy Temples keep.

D.
Grass withers; and the Flow'rs too fade.

C.
Seize the short Joyes then, ere they vade.
Seest thou that unfrequented Cave ?

D.
That den?

C.
Loves Shrine.

D.
But Virtue's...Read more of this...

57. Holy Willie's Prayer

by Robert Burns
 O THOU, who in the heavens does dwell,
Who, as it pleases best Thysel’,
Sends ane to heaven an’ ten to hell,
 A’ for Thy glory,
And no for ony gude or ill
 They’ve done afore Thee!


I bless and praise Thy matchless might,
When thousands Thou hast left in night,
That I am here afore Thy sight,
 For gifts an’ grace
A burning and a...Read more of this...

We shun it ere it comes

by Emily Dickinson
 We shun it ere it comes,
Afraid of Joy,
Then sue it to delay
And lest it fly,
Beguile it more and more --
May not this be
Old Suitor Heaven,
Like our dismay at thee?...Read more of this...

Ere you succumb to shocks of mortal pain,

by Omar Khayyam
Ere you succumb to shocks of mortal pain,
The rosy grape-juice from your wine-cup drain.
You are not gold, that, hidden in the earth,
Your friends should care to dig you up again!...Read more of this...

Negative Love

by John Donne
 I never stoop'd so low, as they
Which on an eye, cheeke, lip, can prey,
Seldom to them, which soare no higher
Than vertue or the minde to'admire,
For sense, and understanding may
Know, what gives fuell to their fire:
My love, though silly, is more brave,
For may I misse, when ere I crave,
If I know yet, what I would have.

If that be simply perfectest
Which...Read more of this...

Hymn 92

by Isaac Watts
 Christ the wisdom of God.

Prov. 8:1,22-32. 

Shall Wisdom cry aloud,
And not her speech be heard?
The voice of God's eternal Word,
Deserves it no regard?

"I was his chief delight,
His everlasting Son,
Before the first of all his works,
Creation, was begun.

["Before the flying clouds,
Before the solid land,
Before the fields, before the floods,
I dwelt at his right hand.

"When he adorned the skies,
And built them,...Read more of this...

Maid of Athens ere we part

by George (Lord) Byron
 Maid of Athens, ere we part, 
Give, oh, give back my heart! 
Or, since that has left my breast, 
Keep it now, and take the rest! 
Hear my vow before I go, 
Zo? mou sas agapo. 

By those tresses unconfined, 
Wooed by each Aegean wind; 
By those lids whose jetty fringe 
Kiss thy soft cheeks' blooming tinge; 
By those...Read more of this...

O idol! ere sorrow comes to assail thee, order rose-colored

by Omar Khayyam
O idol! ere sorrow comes to assail thee, order rose-colored
wine. Thou art not gold, O imbecile! to believe
that after burial in the earth, you can be drawn from it
again.
318...Read more of this...

Sonnet XLVII

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XLVII. Tutta la mia fiorita e verde etade. JUST WHEN HE MIGHT FAIRLY HOPE SOME RETURN OF AFFECTION, ENVIOUS DEATH CARRIES HER OFF.  All my green years and golden prime of manHad pass'd away, and with attemper'd sighsMy bosom heaved—ere yet the days ariseWhen life declines, contracting its brief span.Already...Read more of this...

Song. To Sickness

by Ben Jonson
VIII. ? SONG. ? TO SICKNESS.     To thy altars, by their nights Spent in surfeits ; and their days, And nights too, in worser ways ?     Take heed, Sickness, what you do, I shall fear you'll surfeit too. Live not we, as all thy stalls,And this age will build no more.     'Pray thee, feed contented then,     Sickness, only on us men ;     Or if it...Read more of this...

A Letter From the Trenches to a School Friend

by Charles Sorley
 I have not brought my Odyssey
With me here across the sea;
But you'll remember, when I say
How, when they went down Sparta way,
To sandy Sparta, long ere dawn
Horses were harnessed, rations drawn,
Equipment polished sparkling bright,
And breakfasts swallowed (as the white
Of eastern heavens turned to gold) -
The dogs barked, swift farewells were told.
The sun springs up, the horses neigh,
Crackles the whip...Read more of this...

Ere Sleep Comes Down To Soothe The Weary Eyes

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Ere sleep comes down to soothe the weary eyes,Which all the day with ceaseless care have sought
The magic gold which from the seeker flies;
Ere dreams put on the gown and cap of thought,
And make the waking world a world of lies,—
Of lies most palpable, uncouth, forlorn,
That say life's full of aches and tears and sighs,—
Oh, how with more than dreams...Read more of this...

Dream Song I

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Long years ago, within a distant clime,
Ere Love had touched me with his wand sublime,
I dreamed of one to make my life's calm May
The panting passion of a summer's day.
And ever since, in almost sad suspense,
I have been waiting with a soul intense
To greet and take unto myself the beams,
Of her, my star, the lady of my dreams.
O Love, still...Read more of this...

We are born at sunset and we die ere morn,

by Fernando Pessoa
We are born at sunset and we die ere morn,

And the whole darkness of the world we know,

How can we guess its truth, to darkness born,

The obscure consequence of absent glow?

Only the stars do teach us light. We grasp

Their scattered smallnesses with thoughts that stray,

And, though their eyes look through night's complete mask,

Yet they speak not the features of the...Read more of this...

Modern Love XXVI: Love Ere He Bleeds

by George Meredith
 Love ere he bleeds, an eagle in high skies,
Has earth beneath his wings: from reddened eve
He views the rosy dawn. In vain they weave
The fatal web below while far he flies.
But when the arrow strikes him, there's a change.
He moves but in the track of his spent pain,
Whose red drops are the links of a harsh chain,
Binding him to...Read more of this...

Sonnets xv

by William Shakespeare
 TO me, fair friend, you never can be old; 
For as you were when first your eye I eyed, 
Such seems your beauty still. Three Winters cold 
Have from the forests shook three Summers' pride; 
Three beauteous springs to yellow Autumn turn'd 
In process of the seasons have I seen, 
Three April perfumes in three hot Junes burn'd, 
Since...Read more of this...

The Iron Wedding Rings

by Henry Lawson
 In these days of peace and money, free to all the Commonweal, 
There are ancient dames in Buckland wearing wedding rings of steel; 
Wedding rings of steel and iron, worn on wrinkled hands and old, 
And the wearers would not give them, not for youth nor wealth untold. 

In the days of black oppression, when the best abandoned hope,...Read more of this...

Her Immortality

by Thomas Hardy
 UPON a noon I pilgrimed through
A pasture, mile by mile,
Unto the place where I last saw
My dead Love's living smile.

And sorrowing I lay me down
Upon the heated sod:
It seemed as if my body pressed
The very ground she trod.

I lay, and thought; and in a trance
She came and stood me by--
The same, even to the marvellous ray
That used to light...Read more of this...

Days changed to nights, ere you were born, or I,

by Omar Khayyam
Days changed to nights, ere you were born, or I,
And on its business ever rolled the sky;
See you tread gently on this dust—perchance
'Twas once the apple of some beauty's eye....Read more of this...

Footsteps of Angels

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
WHEN the hours of Day are numbered  
And the voices of the Night 
Wake the better soul that slumbered  
To a holy calm delight; 

Ere the evening lamps are lighted 5 
And like phantoms grim and tall  
Shadows from the fitful firelight 
Dance upon the parlor wall; 

Then the forms of the departed 
Enter at the open...Read more of this...

Music In The Flat

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 When Tom and I were married, we took a little flat; 
I had a taste for singing and playing and all that.
And Tom, who loved to hear me, said he hoped 
I would not stop
All practice, like so many wives who let their 
music drop.
So I resolved to set apart an hour or two each day
To keeping vocal chords...Read more of this...

Bestir thee, ere death's cup for thee shall flow,

by Omar Khayyam
Bestir thee, ere death's cup for thee shall flow,
And blows of ruthless fortune lay thee low;
Acquire some substance here, there is none there,
For those who thither empty-handed go!...Read more of this...

Ended ere it begun --

by Emily Dickinson
 Ended, ere it begun --
The Title was scarcely told
When the Preface perished from Consciousness
The Story, unrevealed --

Had it been mine, to print!
Had it been yours, to read!
That it was not Our privilege
The interdict of God --...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Ere poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace