Famous Heartfelt Poems by Famous Poets

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

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He Giveth His Beloved Sleep

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 The long day passes with its load of sorrow: 
In slumber deep 
I lay me down to rest until tomorrow -- 
Thank God for sleep. 
Thank God for all respite from weary toiling, 
From cares that creep 
Across our lives like evil shadows, spoiling 
God's kindly sleep. 

We plough and sow, and, as the hours grow later, 
We strive...Read more of this...

The Death of Lord and Lady Dalhousie

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Alas! Lord and Lady Dalhousie are dead, and buried at last,
Which causes many people to feel a little downcast;
And both lie side by side in one grave,
But I hope God in His goodness their souls will save. 

And may He protect their children that are left behind,
And may they always food and raiment find;
And from the paths of virtue...Read more of this...

177. Elegy on the Death of Sir James Hunter Blair

by Robert Burns
 THE LAMP of day, with-ill presaging glare,
 Dim, cloudy, sank beneath the western wave;
Th’ inconstant blast howl’d thro’ the dark’ning air,
 And hollow whistled in the rocky cave.


Lone as I wander’d by each cliff and dell,
 Once the lov’d haunts of Scotia’s royal train; 1
Or mus’d where limpid streams, once hallow’d well, 2
 Or mould’ring ruins mark the sacred...Read more of this...

El Nudo (The Knot)

by Delmira Agustini
Spanish    Su idilio fue una larga sonrisa a cuatro labios…En el regazo cálido de rubia primaveraAmáronse talmente que entre sus dedos sabiosPalpitó la divina forma de la Quimera.    En los palacios fúlgidos de las tardes en calmaHablábanse un lenguaje sentido como un lloro,Y se besaban hondo hasta morderse el alma!…Las horas deshojáronse como flores de oro,    Y el Destino interpuso sus dos manos...Read more of this...

The House of Fortune III

by Kahlil Gibran
 My wearied heart bade me farewell and left for the House of Fortune. As he reached that holy city which the soul had blessed and worshipped, he commenced wondering, for he could not find what he had always imagined would be there. The city was empty of power, money, and authority. 

And my heart spoke to the daughter of...Read more of this...

The Wreck of the Columbine

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Kind Christians, all pay attention to me,
And Miss Mouat's sufferings I'll relate to ye;
While on board the Columbine, on the merciless sea,
Tossing about in the darkness of night in the storm helplessly. 

She left her home (Scatness), on Saturday morning, bound for Lerwick,
Thinking to get cured by a man she knew, as she was very sick;
But for eight days...Read more of this...

They go away, and none is seen returning,

by Omar Khayyam
They go away, and none is seen returning,
To teach that other world's recondite learning;
'Twill not be shown for dull mechanic prayers,
For prayer is naught without true heartfelt yearning....Read more of this...

Dedication

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 The morn arrived; his footstep quickly scared

The gentle sleep that round my senses clung,
And I, awak'ning, from my cottage fared,

And up the mountain side with light heart sprung;
At every step I felt my gaze ensnared

By new-born flow'rs that full of dew-drops hung;
The youthful day awoke with ecstacy,
And all things quicken'd were, to quicken me.

And as I mounted, from the...Read more of this...

On The New Year

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 ------
What we sing in company
Soon from heart to heart will fly.
-----

THE Gesellige Lieder, which I have angicisled 
as above, as several of them cannot be called convivial songs, are 
separated by Goethe from his other songs, and I have adhered to 
the same arrangement. The Ergo bibamus is a well-known drinking 
song in Germany, where it enjoys vast popularity.

ON...Read more of this...

The Maid Of The Mills Repentance

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 YOUTH.

AWAY, thou swarthy witch! Go forth

From out my house, I tell thee!
Or else I needs must, in my wrath,

Expel thee!
What's this thou singest so falsely, forsooth,
Of love and a maiden's silent truth?

Who'll trust to such a story!

GIPSY.

I sing of a maid's repentant fears,

And long and bitter yearning;
Her levity's changed to truth and tears

All-burning.
She dreads no more the threats of...Read more of this...

Group From Tartarus

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Hark! like the sea in wrath the heavens assailing,
Or like a brook through rocky basin wailing,
Comes from below, in groaning agony,
A heavy, vacant torment-breathing sigh!
Their faces marks of bitter torture wear,
While from their lips burst curses of despair;
Their eyes are hollow, and full of woe,
And their looks with heartfelt anguish
Seek Cocytus' stream that runs wailing below,
For the bridge o'er...Read more of this...

The Day is Done

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
THE DAY is done and the darkness 
Falls from the wings of Night  
As a feather is wafted downward 
From an eagle in his flight. 

I see the lights of the village 5 
Gleam through the rain and the mist  
And a feeling of sadness comes o'er me 
That my soul cannot resist: 

A feeling of sadness and...Read more of this...

Wallace Stevens On His Way To Work

by David Wagoner
 He would leave early and walk slowly
 As if balancing books
 On the way to school, already expecting
To be tardy once again and heavy
 With numbers, the unfashionably rounded
 Toes of his shoes invisible beyond
The slope of his corporation. He would pause
 At his favorite fundamentally sound
 Park bench, which had been the birthplace
Of paeans and ruminations on other...Read more of this...

My Antipathy

by Friedrich von Schiller
 I have a heartfelt aversion for crime,--a twofold aversion,
Since 'tis the reason why man prates about virtue so much.
"What! thou hatest, then, virtue?"--I would that by all it were practised,
So that, God willing, no man ever need speak of it more....Read more of this...

Although we saw this bright garden

by Emile Verhaeren
Although we saw this bright garden, wherein we pass silently, flower before our eyes, it is rather in us that grows the pleasantest and fairest garden in the world.
For we live all the flowers, all the plants and all the grasses in our laughter and our tears of pure and calm happiness.
For we live all the transparencies of the blue...Read more of this...

Song of the Battle Eve

by Thomas Moore
 (Time -- the Ninth Century)


To-morrow, comrade, we 
On the battle-plain must be, 
There to conquer, or both lie low! 
The morning star is up -- 
But there's wine still in the cup, 
And we'll take another quaff, ere we go, boy, go; 
We'll take another quaff, ere we go. 

'Tis true, in manliest eyes 
A passing tear will rise,...Read more of this...

Love and a Question

by Robert Frost
 A stranger came to the door at eve, 
And he spoke the bridegroom fair. 
He bore a green-white stick in his hand, 
And, for all burden, care. 
He asked with the eyes more than the lips 
For a shelter for the night, 
And he turned and looked at the road afar 
Without a window light. 

The bridegroom came forth...Read more of this...

The Visit

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 FAIN had I to-day surprised my mistress,
But soon found I that her door was fasten'd.
Yet I had the key safe in my pocket,
And the darling door I open'd softly!
In the parlour found I not the maiden,
Found the maiden not within her closet,
Then her chamber-door I gently open'd,
When I found her wrapp'd in pleasing slumbers,
Fully dress'd, and lying on the...Read more of this...

Group From Tartarus

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Hark! like the sea in wrath the heavens assailing,
Or like a brook through rocky basin wailing,
Comes from below, in groaning agony,
A heavy, vacant torment-breathing sigh!
Their faces marks of bitter torture wear,
While from their lips burst curses of despair;
Their eyes are hollow, and full of woe,
And their looks with heartfelt anguish
Seek Cocytus' stream that runs wailing below,
For the bridge o'er...Read more of this...

The Future Peace and Glory of the Church

by William Cowper
 (Isaiah, ix. 15-20)

Hear what God the Lord hath spoken,
"O my people, faint and few,
Comfortless, afflicted, broken,
Fair abodes I build for you.
Thorns of heartfelt tribulation
Shall no more perplex your ways;
You shall name your walls, Salvation,
And your gates shall all be Praise.

"There, like streams that feed the garden,
Pleasures without end shall flow,
For the Lord, your faith rewarding,
All His bounty shall bestow;
Still...Read more of this...

Salesmanship With Half A Dram Of Tears

by Brooks Haxton
 Gripping the lectern, rocking it, searching
the faces for the souls, for signs of heartfelt
mindfulness at work, I thought, as I recited
words I wrote in tears: instead of tears,
if I had understood my father's business,
I could be selling men's clothes. I could be
kneeling, complimenting someone at the bay
of mirrors, mumblingly, with pinpoints pressed
between my lips. That was the life I...Read more of this...

With The Lark

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Night is for sorrow and dawn is for joy,
Chasing the troubles that fret and annoy;
Darkness for sighing and daylight for song,—
Cheery and chaste the strain, heartfelt and strong.
All the night through, though I moan in the dark,
I wake in the morning to sing with the lark.
Deep in the midnight the rain whips the leaves,
Softly and sadly the wood-spirit grieves.
But when...Read more of this...

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