Famous Heroine Poems by Famous Poets

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

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254. Caledonia: A Ballad

...pledg’d her their godheads to warrant it good.


A lambkin in peace, but a lion in war,
 The pride of her kindred, the heroine grew:
Her grandsire, old Odin, triumphantly swore,—
 “Whoe’er shall provoke thee, th’ encounter shall rue!”
With tillage or pasture at times she would sport,
 To feed her fair flocks by her green rustling corn;
But chiefly the woods were her fav’rite resort,
 Her darling amusement, the hounds and the horn.


Long quiet she reigned; till thitherward s...Read more of this...
by Burns, Robert


A Humble Heroine

...r presence was everywhere amongst the men,
And the service invaluable she rendered to them. 

Methinks I see that brave heroine carrying her child,
Whilst the bullets were falling around her, enough to drive her wild;
And bending over it to protect it from danger,
Because to war's alarms it was a stranger. 

And while the shells shrieked around, and their fragments did scatter,
She was serving the men at the guns with wine and water;
And while the shot whistled around, her co...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

A Mien to move a Queen

...A Mien to move a Queen --
Half Child -- Half Heroine --
An Orleans in the Eye
That puts its manner by
For humbler Company
When none are near
Even a Tear --
Its frequent Visitor --

A Bonnet like a Duke --
And yet a Wren's Peruke
Were not so shy
Of Goer by --
And Hands -- so slight --
They would elate a Sprite
With Merriment --

A Voice that Alters -- Low
And on the Ear can go
Like Let of Snow --
Or shi...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

Courage

...berries hiding in fear;
Mother-grouse cackling, feathers all ruffled,
Dashed to defend them as we drew near.
Heart of a heroine, how I admired her!
Of such devotion great poets have sung;
Homes have been blest by the love that inspired her,
Risking her life for the sake of her young.

Ten little chicks on her valour reliant,
Peered with bright eyes from the bilberry spray;
Fiercely she faced us, dismayed but defiant,
Rushed at us bravely to scare us away.
Then my companion, a...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

Grace Darling

...ach sufferer's face. 

And nine persons were rescued almost dead with the cold
By modest and lovely Grace Darling, that heroine bold;
The survivors were taken to the light-house, and remained there two days,
And every one of them was loud in Grace Darling's praise. 

Grace Darling was a comely lass, with long, fair floating hair,
With soft blue eyes, and shy, and modest rare;
And her countenance was full of sense and genuine kindliness,
With a noble heart, and ready to help s...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz


Hanchen the Maid of the Mill

...gether under a strong escort,
And conveyed to Bonn Prison where villains resort. 

So thus ends the story of Hanchen, a heroine brave,
That tried hard her master's gold to save,
And for her bravery she got married to the miller's eldest son,
And Hanchen on her marriage night cried Heaven's will be done....Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

Jenny Carrister The Heroine of Lucknow-Mine

...A heroic story I will unfold,
Concerning Jenny Carrister, a heroine bold,
Who lived in Australia, at a gold mine called Lucknow,
And Jenny was beloved by the the miners, somehow. 

Jenny was the only daughter of the old lady who owned the mine-
And Jenny would come of an evening, like a gleam of sunshine,
And by the presence of her bright face and cheery voice,
She made the hearts of the unlucky diggers rejoice. 

Th...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

Morituri Salutamus: Poem for the Fiftieth Anniversary

...th! how bright it gleams 
With its illusions, aspirations, dreams! 
Book of Beginnings, Story without End, 
Each maid a heroine, and each man a friend! 
Aladdin's Lamp, and Fortunatus' Purse, 
That holds the treasures of the universe! 
All possibilities are in its hands, 
No danger daunts it, and no foe withstands; 
In its sublime audacity of faith, 
"Be thou removed!" it to the mountain saith, 
And with ambitious feet, secure and proud, 
Ascends the ladder leaning on the clo...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

My Cross

...etry will read,
Your heart will only break.
But set your song in vulgar pitch,
If rhyme you will not rue,
And make your heroine a *****...
Like Lady Lou....Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

My Favourite Fan

...maze,
And pity too, I must confess
The look that lit her laughing gaze
Was one of sunny happiness. . . .
Oh spirit of a heroine!
Your smile so tender, so divine,
I pray, may never cease to shine....Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

Orlie Wilde

...d lift me out--
With joy too great for words to state
Or tongue to dare articulate!

"And this seraphic ocean-child
And heroine was Orlie Wilde:
And thus it was I came to hear
Her voice's music in my ear--
Ay, thus it was Fate paved the way
That I walk desolate to-day!" . . .

The artist paused and bowed his face
Within his palms a little space,
While reverently on his form
I bent my gaze and marked a storm
That shook his frame as wrathfully
As some typhoon of agony,
And frau...Read more of this...
by Riley, James Whitcomb

Pauls Wife

...o Paul:
That Paul had married a wife not his equal.
Paul was ashamed of her. To match a hero
She would have had to be a heroine;
Instead of which she was some half-breed squaw.
But if the story Murphy told was true,
She wasn't anything to be ashamed of.

 You know Paul could do wonders. Everyone's
Heard how he thrashed the horses on a load
That wouldn't budge, until they simply stretched
Their rawhide harness from the load to camp.
Paul told the boss the load would be all rig...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

The Ballad Of The Leather Medal

...When Millie and I were sweethearts, and fair as a flower was she -
Yet little I dreamt that her bosom held the heart of heroine.

Listen! I'll tell you about it... An orphan was Millie MacGee,
Living with Billie her brother, under the Yukon sky,
Sam, her pa, was cremated in the winter of nineteen-three,
As duly and truly related by the pen of an author guy.

A cute little kid was Billie, solemn and silken of hair,
The image of Jackie Coogan in the days before movies could spe...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

The Lady of the Lake

...ing lingerer wave adieu,
     And stop and turn to wave anew;
     And, lovely ladies, ere your ire
     Condemn the heroine of my lyre,
     Show me the fair would scorn to spy
     And prize such conquest of her eve!
     VI.

     While yet he loitered on the spot,
     It seemed as Ellen marked him not;
     But when he turned him to the glade,
     One courteous parting sign she made;
     And after, oft the knight would say,
     That not when prize of fest...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Pennsylvania Disaster

...the thieves were lynched and shot
For robbing the dead of their valuables, which will not be forgot. 

Mrs Ogle, like a heroine, in the telegraph office stood at her post,
And wired words of warning, else more lives would have been lost;
Besides she was warned to flee, but from her work she wouldn't stir,
Until at last the merciless flood engulfed her. 

And as for the robbery and outrage at the hands of the ghouls,
I must mention Clara Barton and her band of merciful souls,
...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

The Princess (prologue)

...th 'As you will; 
Heroic if you will, or what you will, 
Or be yourself you hero if you will.' 

'Take Lilia, then, for heroine' clamoured he, 
'And make her some great Princess, six feet high, 
Grand, epic, homicidal; and be you 
The Prince to win her!' 
'Then follow me, the Prince,' 
I answered, 'each be hero in his turn! 
Seven and yet one, like shadows in a dream.-- 
Heroic seems our Princess as required-- 
But something made to suit with Time and place, 
A Gothic ruin an...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Wreck of the Barque Lynton

...A sad tale of the sea, I will unfold,
About Mrs Lingard, that Heroine bold;
Who struggled hard in the midst of the hurricane wild,
To save herself from being drowned, and her darling child. 

'Twas on the 8th of September, the Barque "Lynton" sailed for Aspinwall,
And the crew on board, numbered thirteen in all;
And the weather at the time, was really very fine,
On the morning that the ill-fated vessel left the Tyne. 
...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

The Wreck of the Steamer Stella

...Christian people for them will drop a tear,
Because the rowers of the boata were exhausted with damp and cold;
And the heroine of the wreck was Miss Greta Williams, be it told. 

She remained in as open boat with her fellow-passengers and crew,
And sang "O rest in the Lord, and He will come to our rescue";
And for fourteen hours they were rowing on the mighty deep,
And when each man was done with his turn he fell asleep. 

And about six o'clock in the morning a man shrieked ...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz

Three Women

...ite pickets.
See, the darkness is leaking from the cracks.
I cannot contain it. I cannot contain my life.

I shall be a heroine of the peripheral.
I shall not be accused by isolate buttons,
Holes in the heels of socks, the white mute faces
Of unanswered letters, coffined in a letter case.
I shall not be accused, I shall not be accused.
The clock shall not find me wanting, nor these stars
That rivet in place abyss after abyss.

THIRD VOICE:
I see her in my sleep, my red, terri...Read more of this...
by Plath, Sylvia

Why Washington Retreated

...on: “My part in it
 Is difficult indeed,
For every hero in the books
 Must sometime meet with me,
And every sweet-faced heroine
 I must kiss gallantly.”

Said Congress to George Washington:
 “But why must you retreat?”
Said Washington: “One moment, please,
 My story to complete.
These hero-folk are scattered through
 The whole United States;
At every little country town
 A man or maiden waits.”

To Congress said George Washington:
 “At Harlem I must be
On such a day to chat w...Read more of this...
by Butler, Ellis Parker

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