Famous Hunt Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Negro Boy

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 Paupertas onus visa est grave.


Cold blows the wind, and while the tear
Bursts trembling from my swollen eyes,
The rain's big drop, quick meets it there,
And on my naked bosom flies!
O pity, all ye sons of Joy,
The little wand'ring *****-boy.

These tatter'd clothes, this ice-cold breast
By Winter harden'd into steel,
These eyes, that know not soothing rest,
But speak the half of what I...Read more of this...

Octobers Bright Blue Weather

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 O suns and skies and clouds of June, 
And flowers of June together, 
Ye cannot rival for one hour 
October's bright blue weather;

When loud the bumblebee makes haste, 
Belated, thriftless vagrant, 
And goldenrod is dying fast, 
And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

When gentians roll their fingers tight 
To save them for the morning, 
And chestnuts fall from satin burrs...Read more of this...

Freedom

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 he drank wine all night of the 
28th, and he kept thinking of her: 
the way she walked and talked and loved 
the way she told him things that seemed true 
but were not, and he knew the color of each 
of her dresses 
and her shoes-he knew the stock and curve of 
each heel 
as well as the...Read more of this...

Unto one who lies at rest

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 Unto one who lies at rest 
'Neath the sunset, in the West, 
Clover-blossoms on her breast. 

Lover of each gracious thing 
Which makes glad the summer-tide, 
From the daisies clustering 
And the violets purple-eyed, 
To those shy and hidden blooms 
Which in forest coverts stay, 
Sending wandering perfumes 
Out as guide to show the way, 
All she knew, to...Read more of this...

The Glove and The Lions

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 King Francis was a hearty king, and loved a royal sport,
And one day as his lions fought, sat looking on the court;
The nobles filled the benches, and the ladies in their pride,
And 'mongst them sat the Count de Lorge, with one for whom he sighed:
And truly 'twas a gallant thing to see that crowning show,
Valour and love, and a...Read more of this...

A Calendar of Sonnets: March

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 Month which the warring ancients strangely styled 
The month of war,--as if in their fierce ways 
Were any month of peace!--in thy rough days 
I find no war in Nature, though the wild 
Winds clash and clang, and broken boughs are piled 
As feet of writhing trees. The violets raise 
Their heads without affright, without amaze, 
And sleep through...Read more of this...

A Calendar of Sonnets: February

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 Still lie the sheltering snows, undimmed and white; 
And reigns the winter's pregnant silence still; 
No sign of spring, save that the catkins fill, 
And willow stems grow daily red and bright. 
These are days when ancients held a rite 
Of expiation for the old year's ill, 
And prayer to purify the new year's will: 
Fit days, ere yet...Read more of this...

To Robert Batty M.D. on His Giving Me a Lock of Miltons Hair

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 It lies before me there, and my own breath 
Stirs its thin outer threads, as though beside 
The living head I stood in honoured pride, 
Talking of lovely things that conquer death. 
Perhaps he pressed it once, or underneath 
Ran his fine fingers when he leant, blank-eyed, 
And saw in fancy Adam and his bride 
With their heaped locks,...Read more of this...

Death

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 My body, eh? Friend Death, how now? 
Why all this tedious pomp of writ? 
Thou hast reclaimed it sure and slow 
For half a century bit by bit.

In faith thou knowest more to-day 
Than I do, where it can be found! 
This shrivelled lump of suffering clay, 
To which I am now chained and bound,

Has not of kith or...Read more of this...

A Thought of the Nile

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 It flows through old hushed Egypt and its sands,
Like some grave mighty thought threading a dream,
And times and things, as in that vision, seem
Keeping along it their eternal stands,--
Caves, pillars, pyramids, the shepherd bands
That roamed through the young world, the glory extreme
Of high Sesostris, and that southern beam,
The laughing queen that caught the world's great hands.

Then comes a mightier...Read more of this...

A Calendar of Sonnets: June

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 O month whose promise and fulfilment blend, 
And burst in one! it seems the earth can store 
In all her roomy house no treasure more; 
Of all her wealth no farthing have to spend 
On fruit, when once this stintless flowering end. 
And yet no tiniest flower shall fall before 
It hath made ready at its hidden core 
Its...Read more of this...

Rondeau

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 Jenny kiss'd me when we met,
Jumping from the chair she sat in;
Time, you thief, who love to get
Sweets into your list, put that in!
Say I'm weary, say I'm sad,
Say that health and welth have miss'd me,
Say I'm growing old, but add,
Jenny kiss'd me....Read more of this...

Robin Hood An Outlaw

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 Robin Hood is an outlaw bold
Under the greenwood tree;
Bird, nor stag, nor morning air
Is more at large than he.

They sent against him twenty men,
Who joined him laughing-eyed;
They sent against him thirty more,
And they remained beside.

All the stoutest of the train,
That grew in Gamelyn wood,
Whether they came with these or not,
Are now with Robin Hood.

And not a soul in Locksley...Read more of this...

The Poets Forge

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 He lies on his back, the idling smith, 
A lazy, dreaming fellow is he; 
The sky is blue, or the sky is gray, 
He lies on his back the livelong day, 
Not a tool in sight, say what they may, 
A curious sort of smith is he. 

The powers of the air are in league with him; 
The country...Read more of this...

Danger

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 With what a childish and short-sighted sense 
Fear seeks for safety; recons up the days 
Of danger and escape, the hours and ways 
Of death; it breathless flies the pestilence; 
It walls itself in towers of defence; 
By land, by sea, against the storm it lays 
Down barriers; then, comforted, it says: 
"This spot, this hour is safe." Oh,...Read more of this...

Written On The Day That Mr Leigh Hunt Left Prison

by John Keats
 What though, for showing truth to flattered state,
Kind Hunt was shut in prison, yet has he,
In his immortal spirit, been as free
As the sky-searching lark, and as elate.
Minion of grandeur! think you he did wait?
Think you he nought but prison-walls did see,
Till, so unwilling, thou unturnedst the key?
Ah, no! far happier, nobler was his fate!
In Spenser's halls he strayed,...Read more of this...

An Arctic Quest

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 O proudly name their names who bravely sail 
To seek brave lost in Arctic snows and seas! 
Bring money and bring ships, and on strong knees 
Pray prayers so strong that not one word can fail 
To pierce God's listening heart! 
Rigid and pale, 
The lost men's bodies, waiting, drift and freeze; 
Yet shall their solemn dead lips tell...Read more of this...

A Night-Rain in Summer

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 Open the window, and let the air 
Freshly blow upon face and hair, 
And fill the room, as it fills the night, 
With the breath of the rain's sweet might. 
Hark! the burthen, swift and prone! 
And how the odorous limes are blown! 
Stormy Love's abroad, and keeps 
Hopeful coil for gentle sleeps. 

Not a blink shall burn to-night...Read more of this...

A Calendar of Sonnets: August

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 Silence again. The glorious symphony 
Hath need of pause and interval of peace. 
Some subtle signal bids all sweet sounds cease, 
Save hum of insects' aimless industry. 
Pathetic summer seeks by blazonry 
Of color to conceal her swift decrease. 
Weak subterfuge! Each mocking day doth fleece 
A blossom, and lay bare her poverty. 
Poor middle-aged summer! Vain this show!...Read more of this...

A Calendar of Sonnets: November

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 This is the treacherous month when autumn days 
With summer's voice come bearing summer's gifts. 
Beguiled, the pale down-trodden aster lifts 
Her head and blooms again. The soft, warm haze 
Makes moist once more the sere and dusty ways, 
And, creeping through where dead leaves lie in drifts, 
The violet returns. Snow noiseless sifts 
Ere night, an icy shroud,...Read more of this...

The Fir-Tree and the Brook

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 The Fir-Tree looked on stars, but loved the Brook! 
"O silver-voiced! if thou wouldst wait, 
My love can bravely woo." All smiles forsook 
The brook's white face. "Too late! 
Too late! I go to wed the sea. 
I know not if my love would curse or bless thee. 
I may not, dare not, tarry to caress thee, 
Oh, do...Read more of this...

I see you hunt the spotted deer

by Kalidasa
I see you hunt the spotted deer
With shafts to end his race,
As though God Shiva should appear
In his immortal chase....Read more of this...

Robin Hoods Flight

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 Robin Hood's mother, these twelve years now,
Has been gone from her earthly home;
And Robin has paid, he scarce knew how,
A sum for a noble tomb.

The church-yard lies on a woody hill,
But open to sun and air:
It seems as if the heaven still
Were looking and smiling there.

Often when Robin looked that way,
He looked through a sweet thin tear;
But he looked...Read more of this...

New Years Morning

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 Only a night from old to new! 
Only a night, and so much wrought! 
The Old Year's heart all weary grew, 
But said: The New Year rest has brought." 
The Old Year's hopes its heart laid down, 
As in a grave; but trusting, said: 
"The blossoms of the New Year's crown 
Bloom from the ashes of the dead." 
The...Read more of this...

Chance

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 These things wondering I saw beneath the sun: 
That never yet the race was to the swift, 
The fight unto the mightiest to lift, 
Nor favors unto men whose skill had done 
Great works, nor riches ever unto one 
Wise man of understanding. All is drift 
Of time and chance, and none may stay or sift 
Or know the...Read more of this...

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