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Famous High Hopes Poems by Famous Poets

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

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...a common name to all.

Surrounded thus with friends of every sort,
Deluded Absalom forsakes the court:
Impatient of high hopes, urg'd with renown,
And fir'd with near possession of a crown:
Th' admiring crowd are dazzled with surprise,
And on his goodly person feed their eyes:
His joy conceal'd, he sets himself to show;
On each side bowing popularly low:
His looks, his gestures, and his words he frames,
And with familiar ease repeats their names.
Thus, form'd by Natur...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John



...teach marble to lie. 

Yet counting as far as to fifty his years, 
 His virtues and vices were as other men's are; 
High hopes he conceived, and he smother'd great fears, 
 In a life parti-colour'd, half pleasure, half care. 

Nor to business a drudge, nor to faction a slave, 
 He strove to make int'rest and freedom agree; 
In public employments industrious and grave, 
 And alone with his friends, Lord! how merry was he! 

Now in equipage stately, now humbly on foot, ...Read more of this...
by Prior, Matthew
...sheep, cattle and waterfalls,
Stopping with a silence of sea grass, a silence of prairie corn.
 Hats: tell me your high hopes....Read more of this...
by Sandburg, Carl
...l express'd—Lovely and blessèd spirit of my breast,Which levels all high hopes and wishes free.Nor would I more demand if less of hasteShe show'd to part; for if, as legends tellAnd credence find, are some who live by smell,On water some, or fire who touch and taste,All, things which neither stren...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco
...speech that was halfway spoken
Breaks, as a pledge that is broken,
As a king's pledge, leaving in token
Grief only for high hopes blinded,
New grief grafted on old.

We halt by the walls of the city,
Within sound of the clash of her chain.
Hearing, we know that in there
The lioness chafes in her lair,
Shakes the storm of her hair,
Struggles in hands without pity,
Roars to the lion in vain.

Whose hand is stretched forth upon her?
Whose curb is white with her foam...Read more of this...
by Swinburne, Algernon Charles



...ein,
Slipping the spur from the booted heel,
Tenderest voices cry " Turn again!"
Red lips tarnish the scabbarded steel,
High hopes faint on a warm hearth-stone--
He travels the fastest who travels alone.

One may fall but he falls by himself--
Falls by himself with himself to blame.
One may attain and to him is pelf--
Loot of the city in Gold or Fame.
Plunder of earth shall be all his own
Who travels the fastest and travels alone.

Wherefore the more ye be hel...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard
...y-arching lines
Dark and o'erhanging now; and that mild face
Settled in these strong lineaments!--There were
Who form'd high hopes and flattering ones of thee
Young Robert! for thine eye was quick to speak
Each opening feeling: should they not have known
When the rich rainbow on the morning cloud
Reflects its radiant dies, the husbandman
Beholds the ominous glory sad, and fears
Impending storms? they augur'd happily,
For thou didst love each wild and wonderous tale
Of faery f...Read more of this...
by Southey, Robert
...are like those of the Trojans.
Somewhat we succeed; somewhat
we regain confidence; and we start
to have courage and high hopes.

But something always happens and stops us.
Achilles in the trench before us
emerges and with loud cries terrifies us.--

Our efforts are like those of the Trojans.
We believe that with resolution and daring
we will alter the blows of destiny,
and we stand outside to do battle.

But when the great crisis comes,
our daring and ...Read more of this...
by Cavafy, Constantine P

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