Famous Given Up Poems by Famous Poets

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

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It was given to me by the Gods

by Emily Dickinson
 It was given to me by the Gods --
When I was a little Girl --
They given us Presents most -- you know --
When we are new -- and small.
I kept it in my Hand --
I never put it down --
I did not dare to eat -- or sleep --
For fear it would be gone --
I heard such words as...Read more of this...

The Bleeding Hand; Or The Sprig Of Eglantine Given To A Maid

by Robert Herrick
 From this bleeding hand of mine,
Take this sprig of Eglantine:
Which, though sweet unto your smell,
Yet the fretful briar will tell,
He who plucks the sweets, shall prove
Many thorns to be in love....Read more of this...

Hertha

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 I AM that which began; 
 Out of me the years roll; 
 Out of me God and man; 
 I am equal and whole; 
God changes, and man, and the form of them bodily; I am the soul. 

 Before ever land was, 
 Before ever the sea, 
 Or soft hair of the grass, 
 Or fair...Read more of this...

Envoys From Alexandria

by Constantine P Cavafy
 They had not seen, for ages, such beautiful gifts in Delphi
as these that had been sent by the two brothers,
the rival Ptolemaic kings. After they had received them
however, the priests were uneasy about the oracle. They will need
all their experience to compose it with astuteness,
which of the two, which of such two will be displeased.
And they hold secret councils...Read more of this...

A Riddle: On A Kiss

by William Strode
 What thing is that, nor felt nor seene
Till it bee given? a present for a Queene:
A fine conceite to give and take the like:
The giver yet is farther for to seeke;
The taker doth possesse nothing the more,
The giver hee hath nothing lesse in store:
And given once that nature hath it still,
You cannot keepe or leave it if you will:
The...Read more of this...

When One has given up Ones life

by Emily Dickinson
 When One has given up One's life
The parting with the rest
Feels easy, as when Day lets go
Entirely the West

The Peaks, that lingered last
Remain in Her regret
As scarcely as the Iodine
Upon the Cataract....Read more of this...

Sing -- Sing -- Music Was Given

by Thomas Moore
 Sing -- sing -- Music was given 
To brighten the gay, and kindle the loving; 
Souls here, like planets in heaven, 
By harmony's laws alone are kept moving. 
Beauty may boast of her eyes and her cheeks, 
But Love from the lips his true archery wings; 
And she, who but feathers the dart when she speaks, 
At once sends...Read more of this...

Mine Own John Poynz

by Sir Thomas Wyatt
 Mine own John Poynz, since ye delight to know
The cause why that homeward I me draw,
And flee the press of courts, whereso they go,
Rather than to live thrall under the awe
Of lordly looks, wrappèd within my cloak,
To will and lust learning to set a law:
It is not for because I scorn or mock
The power of them, to whom fortune...Read more of this...

King of the River

by Stanley Kunitz
 If the water were clear enough,
if the water were still,
but the water is not clear,
the water is not still,
you would see yourself,
slipped out of your skin,
nosing upstream,
slapping, thrashing,
tumbling
over the rocks
till you paint them
with your belly's blood:
Finned Ego,
yard of muscle that coils,
uncoils.
If the knowledge were given you,
but it is not given,
for the membrane is clouded
with self-deceptions
and the iridescent image swims
through...Read more of this...

From This Hour the Pledge is Given

by Thomas Moore
 From this hour the pledge is given, 
From this hour my soul is thine: 
Come what will, from earth of heaven, 
Weal or woe, thy fate be mine. 
When the proud and great stood by thee, 
None dared thy rights to spurn; 
And if now they're false and fly thee, 
Shall I, too, falsely turn? 
No; -- whate'er the...Read more of this...

Silence is in Our Festal Halls

by Thomas Moore
 Silence is in our festal halls -- 
Sweet son of song! thy course is o'er; 
In vain on thee sad Erin calls, 
Her minstrel's voice responds no more; -- 
All silent as the Eolian shell 
Sleeps at the close of some bright day, 
When the sweet breeze, that waked its swell 
At sunny morn, hath died away. 

Yet, at...Read more of this...

Given in Marriage unto Thee

by Emily Dickinson
 Given in Marriage unto Thee
Oh thou Celestial Host --
Bride of the Father and the Son
Bride of the Holy Ghost.

Other Betrothal shall dissolve --
Wedlock of Will, decay --
Only the Keeper of this Ring
Conquer Mortality --...Read more of this...

Who led thee here this night, thus given up to wine?

by Omar Khayyam
Who led thee here this night, thus given up to wine?
Who, indeed, raising the veil which hid thee, has been
able to lead thee here? Who, finally, brought thee as
rapidly as the wind which fans the fire that still burned
in thy absence?...Read more of this...

On the Hills

by Lucy Maud Montgomery
 Through the pungent hours of the afternoon,
On the autumn slopes we have lightly wandered 
Where the sunshine lay in a golden swoon
And the lingering year all its sweetness squandered. 
Oh, it was blithesome to roam at will 
Over the crest of each westering hill, 
Over those dreamy, enchanted lands 
Where the trees held to us their friendly hands! 

Winds...Read more of this...

A Flower Given to My Daughter

by James Joyce
 Frail the white rose and frail are
Her hands that gave
Whose soul is sere and paler
Than time's wan wave.

Rosefrail and fair -- yet frailest
A wonder wild
In gentle eyes thou veilest,
My blueveined child....Read more of this...

Minstrels

by William Wordsworth
The minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage-eaves;
While, smitten by a lofty moon,
The encircling laurels, thick with leaves,
Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen,
That overpowered their natural green.

Through hill and valley every breeze
Had sunk to rest with folded wings:
Keen was the air, but could not freeze,
Nor check, the music of the strings;
So stout and hardy were the band
That scraped...Read more of this...

Extemporary Counsel given to a Young Gallant in a Frolick

by Anne Killigrew
 AS you are Young, if you'l be also Wise, 
Danger with Honour court, Quarrels despise; 
Believe you then are truly Brave and Bold, 
To Beauty when no Slave, and less to Gold; 
When Vertue you dare own, not think it odd, 
Or ungenteel to say, I fear a God....Read more of this...

Advice

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 I must do as you do? Your way I own
Is a very good way, and still,
There are sometimes two straight roads to a town,
One over, one under the hill.

You are treading the safe and the well-worn way,
That the prudent choose each time;
And you think me reckless and rash to-day
Because I prefer to climb.

Your path is the right one, and...Read more of this...

What Is To Be Given

by Delmore Schwartz
 What is to be given,
Is spirit, yet animal,
Colored, like heaven,
Blue, yellow, beautiful.

The blood is checkered by
So many stains and wishes,
Between it and the sky
You could not choose, for riches.

Yet let me now be careful
Not to give too much
To one so shy and fearful
For like a gun is touch....Read more of this...

More Strong Than Time

by Victor Hugo
 ("Puisque j'ai mis ma lèvre à ta coupe.") 
 
 {XXV., Jan. 1, 1835.} 


 Since I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet, 
 Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid, 
 Since I have known your soul, and all the bloom of it, 
 And all the perfume rare, now buried...Read more of this...

Mater Dolorosa

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 Who is this that sits by the way, by the wild wayside,
In a rent stained raiment, the robe of a cast-off bride,
In the dust, in the rainfall sitting, with soiled feet bare,
With the night for a garment upon her, with torn wet hair?
She is fairer of face than the daughters of men, and her eyes,
Worn through with her tears,...Read more of this...

Youve given me a weapon

by Judith Skillman
 Poem by Anne-Marie Derése, translated by Judith Skillman.

You've given me a weapon.
you've flung your words
into the human herd
like stones.
The wounds were
good to lick.
You have woken the tiger. 
You've given as one takes....Read more of this...

In the first place, my being was given me without my

by Omar Khayyam
In the first place, my being was given me without my
consent, which makes my own existence a lasting problem
to me. Then, we leave this world with regret, and without
having accomplished the aim of our coming, of our
stay, or our departure....Read more of this...

Since Thou Hast Given Me This Good Hope O God

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 SINCE thou hast given me this good hope, O God,
That while my footsteps tread the flowery sod
And the great woods embower me, and white dawn
And purple even sweetly lead me on
From day to day, and night to night, O God,
My life shall no wise miss the light of love;
But ever climbing, climb above
Man's one poor star, man's supine lands,
Into...Read more of this...

Since you only possess what God has given you, torment

by Omar Khayyam
Since you only possess what God has given you, torment
not yourself to obtain the object of your covetousness.
Keep from burdening the heart too much, for the
final drama consists in leaving all and passing beyond....Read more of this...

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