Famous Illumed Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Hymn To Intellectual Beauty

by Percy Bysshe Shelley
 The awful shadow of some unseen Power
Floats through unseen among us, -- visiting
This various world with as inconstant wing
As summer winds that creep from flower to flower, --
Like moonbeams that behind some piny mountain shower,
It visits with inconstant glance
Each human heart and countenance;
Like hues and harmonies of evening, --
Like clouds in starlight widely spread, --
Like memory of music fled,...Read more of this...

To A Young Lady

by John Trumbull
 In vain, fair Maid, you ask in vain,
My pen should try th' advent'rous strain,
And following truth's unalter'd law,
Attempt your character to draw.
I own indeed, that generous mind
That weeps the woes of human kind,
That heart by friendship's charms inspired,
That soul with sprightly fancy fired,
The air of life, the vivid eye,
The flowing wit, the keen reply--
To paint these beauties as they...Read more of this...

Sonnet CXXI

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CXXI. Le stelle e 'l cielo e gli elementi a prova. LAURA'S UNPARALLELED BEAUTY AND VIRTUE.  The stars, the elements, and Heaven have madeWith blended powers a work beyond compare;All their consenting influence, all their care,To frame one perfect creature lent their aid.Whence Nature views her loveliness display'dWith sun-like...Read more of this...

The Torture of Cuauhtemoc

by Alan Seeger
 Their strength had fed on this when Death's white arms 
Came sleeved in vapors and miasmal dew, 
Curling across the jungle's ferny floor, 
Becking each fevered brain. On bleak divides, 
Where Sleep grew niggardly for nipping cold 
That twinged blue lips into a mouthed curse, 
Not back to Seville and its sunny plains 
Winged their brief-biding dreams, but once...Read more of this...

While Historys Muse

by Thomas Moore
 While History's Muse the memorial was keeping 
Of all that the dark hand of Destiny weaves, 
Beside her the Genius of Erin stood weeping, 
For hers was the story that blotted the leaves. 
But oh! how the tear in her eyelids grew bright, 
When, after whole pages of sorrow and shame, 
She saw History write, 
With a pencil of...Read more of this...

Sonnet CLXXXIV

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 198] SONNET CLXXXIV. Onde tolse Amor l' oro e di qual vena. THE CHARMS OF HER COUNTENANCE AND VOICE.  Whence could Love take the gold, and from what vein,To form those bright twin locks? What thorn could growThose roses? And what mead that white bestowOf the fresh dews,...Read more of this...

Forget Not the Field

by Thomas Moore
 Forget not the field where they perish'd, 
The truest, the last of the brave, 
All gone -- and the bright hope we cherish'd 
Gone with them, and quench'd in their grave! 

Oh! could we from death but recover 
Those hearts as they bounded before, 
In the face of high heaven to fight over 
That combat for freedom once more;...Read more of this...

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