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Famous Harm Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Shakespeare, William
...tand,
And was my own fee-simple, not in part,
What with his art in youth, and youth in art,
Threw my affections in his charmed power,
Reserved the stalk and gave him all my flower.

'Yet did I not, as some my equals did,
Demand of him, nor being desired yielded;
Finding myself in honour so forbid,
With safest distance I mine honour shielded:
Experience for me many bulwarks builded
Of proofs new-bleeding, which remain'd the foil
Of this false jewel, and his amorous spoil.<...Read more of this...



by Dickinson, Emily
...he Poet—it is He—
Entitles Us—by Contrast—
To ceaseless Poverty—

Of Portion—so unconscious—
The Robbing—could not harm—
Himself—to Him—a Fortune—
Exterior—to Time—

466

'Tis little I—could care for Pearls—
Who own the ample sea—
Or Brooches—when the Emperor—
With Rubies—pelteth me—

Or Gold—who am the Prince of Mines—
Or Diamonds—when have I
A Diadem to fit a Dome—
Continual upon me—

474

They put Us far apart—
As separate as Sea
And Her unsown Pen...Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...Peace seemed to reign upon earth, and the restless heart of the ocean
Was for a moment consoled. All sounds were in harmony blended.
Voices of children at play, the crowing of cocks in the farm-yards,
Whir of wings in the drowsy air, and the cooing of pigeons,
All were subdued and low as the murmurs of love, and the great sun
Looked with the eye of love through the golden vapors around him;
While arrayed in its robes of russet and scarlet and yellow,
Bright with the s...Read more of this...

by Shakespeare, William
...u hast finished joy and moan; 
All lovers young, all lovers must 
Consign to thee, and come to dust. 

No exorciser harm thee! 
Nor no witchcraft charm thee! 
Ghost unlaid forbear thee! 
Nothing ill come near thee! 
Quiet consummation have; 
And renowned be thy grave!...Read more of this...

by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...a new and shocking
Valuation of all we have been. We are only undeceived
Of that which, deceiving, could no longer harm.
In the middle, not only in the middle of the way
But all the way, in a dark wood, in a bramble,
On the edge of a grimpen, where is no secure foothold,
And menaced by monsters, fancy lights,
Risking enchantment. Do not let me hear
Of the wisdom of old men, but rather of their folly,
Their fear of fear and frenzy, their fear of possession,
Of bel...Read more of this...



by Marvell, Andrew
...ge and love, by loss more keen, 
At her own breast her useless claws does arm: 
She tears herself, since him she cannot harm. 

The guards, placed for the chain's and fleet's defence, 
Long since were fled on many a feigned pretence. 
Daniel had there adventured, man of might, 
Sweet Painter, draw his picture while I write. 
Paint him of person tall, and big of bone, 
Large limbs like ox, not to be killed but shown. 
Scarce can burnt ivory feign an hair so bla...Read more of this...

by Wordsworth, William
...dread the waves below,  When o'er the sea-rock's edge we go;  The high crag cannot work me harm,  Nor leaping torrents when they howl;  The babe I carry on my arm,  He saves for me my precious soul;  Then happy lie, for blest am I;  Without me my sweet babe would die.   Then do not fear, my boy! for thee  Bold as a lion I will be; &nbs...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...r solitude sometimes is best society, 
And short retirement urges sweet return. 
But other doubt 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 
T...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...ne own; 
Thou art their author, and prime architect: 
For I no sooner in my heart divined, 
My heart, which by a secret harmony 
Still moves with thine, joined in connexion sweet, 
That thou on earth hadst prospered, which thy looks 
Now also evidence, but straight I felt, 
Though distant from thee worlds between, yet felt, 
That I must after thee, with this thy son; 
Such fatal consequence unites us three! 
Hell could no longer hold us in our bounds, 
Nor this unvoyageable g...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...soon occasion thereby to make thee
Thir Captive, and thir triumph; thou the sooner
Temptation found'st, or over-potent charms
To violate the sacred trust of silence
Deposited within thee; which to have kept
Tacit, was in thy power; true; and thou hear'st 
Enough, and more the burden of that fault;
Bitterly hast thou paid, and still art paying
That rigid score. A worse thing yet remains,
This day the Philistines a popular Feast
Here celebrate in Gaza, and proclaim
Great Po...Read more of this...

by Chesterton, G K
...drink and the dead
He had fallen upon sleep.

"Come not to me, King Alfred, Save always for the ale:
Why should my harmless hinds be slain
Because the chiefs cry once again,
As in all fights, that we shall gain,
And in all fights we fail?

"Your scalds still thunder and prophesy
That crown that never comes;
Friend, I will watch the certain things,
Swine, and slow moons like silver rings,
And the ripening of the plums."

And Alfred answered, drinking,
And gravely, wit...Read more of this...

by Masefield, John
...imbrel.. 

In the old quarry-pit they say 
Head-keeper Pike was made away. 
He walks, head-keeper Pike, for harm, 
He taps the windows of the farm; 
The blood drips from his broken chin, 
He taps and begs to be let in. 
On Wood Top, nights, I've shaked to hark 
The peewits wambling in the dark 
Lest in the dark the old man might 
Creep up to me to beg a light.

But Wood Top grass is short and sweet 
And springy to a boxer's feet; 
At harvest hum the moon s...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...Captain to thank
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best--
 A perfect and absolute blank!"

This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out
 That the Captain they trusted so well
Had only one notion for crossing the ocean,
 And that was to tingle his bell.

He was thoughtful and grave--but the orders he gave
 Were enough to bewilder a crew.
When he cried "Steer to starboard, but keep her head larboard!"
 What on earth was the helmsman to do?
...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...t,
     On wandering knights our spells we cast;
     While viewless minstrels touch the string,
     'Tis thus our charmed rhymes we sing.'
     She sung, and still a harp unseen
     Filled up the symphony between.
     XXXI.

     Song.

     Soldier, rest! thy warfare o'er,
          Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking;
     Dream of battled fields no more,
          Days of danger, nights of waking.
     In our isle's enchanted hall,
          Hands un...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...ogue above a gentleman," may throw light on
the reading here, which is difficult.


THE TALE. 


O scatheful harm, condition of poverty,
With thirst, with cold, with hunger so confounded;
To aske help thee shameth in thine hearte;
If thou none ask, so sore art thou y-wounded,
That very need unwrappeth all thy wound hid.
Maugre thine head thou must for indigence
Or steal, or beg, or borrow thy dispence*. *expense

Thou blamest Christ, and sayst full bitterly...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...ough gilt wires a crafty loving eye, 
And takes a lady's finger with all care, 
And bites it for true heart and not for harm, 
So he with Lilia's. Daintily she shrieked 
And wrung it. 'Doubt my word again!' he said. 
'Come, listen! here is proof that you were missed: 
We seven stayed at Christmas up to read; 
And there we took one tutor as to read: 
The hard-grained Muses of the cube and square 
Were out of season: never man, I think, 
So mouldered in a sinecure a...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...ave done more good, in the charities of life, to their fellow-creatures, in any one year, than Mr. Southey has done harm to himself by his absurdities in his whole life; and this is saying a great deal. But I have a few questions to ask. 

1stly, Is Mr. Southey the author of 'Wat Tyler'? 

2ndly, Was he not refused a remedy at law by the highest judge of his beloved England, because it was a blasphemous and seditious publication? 

3rdly, Was he not entitled b...Read more of this...

by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...the chapel
There is the empty chapel, only the wind's home.
It has no windows, and the door swings, 
Dry bones can harm no one.
Only a cock stood on the rooftree
Co co rico co co rico
In a flash of lightning. Then a damp gust
Bringing rain
 Ganga was sunken, and the limp leaves
Waited for rain, while the black clouds
Gathered far distant, over Himavant.
The jungle crouched, humped in silence.
Then spoke the thunder 
DA
Datta: what have we given?
My friend...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...brain,
While that they slept, and thus they have them slain:
Some have them given poison in their drink:
He spake more harm than hearte may bethink.
And therewithal he knew of more proverbs,
Than in this world there groweth grass or herbs.
"Better (quoth he) thine habitation
Be with a lion, or a foul dragon,
Than with a woman using for to chide.
Better (quoth he) high in the roof abide,
Than with an angry woman in the house,
They be so wicked and contrarious:
The...Read more of this...

by Akhmatova, Anna
...esponse late at night.

"I'll be guest of the white death
On my journey down.
You, my tender one, don't do
Harm to anyone."

And there stands a giant star
Between two wood beams,
With such calmness promising
To fulfil your dreams.



x x x

Divine angel, who betrothed us
Secretly on winter morn,
From our sadness-free existence
Does not take his darkened eyes.

For this reason we love sky,
And fresh wind, and air so thin,
And the da...Read more of this...

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