Famous Invite Poems by Famous Poets

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

See also:

joy-notes

by Rg Gregory
 when the time comes
yield
to the forces outside you
images simply
of your inner compulsions

when the time comes
invite
your enemies inside you
inversions simply
of your face on the world

when the time comes
die
from the fears that hold you
the action simply
of seceding old skins

when the time comes
arise
that marsh birds greet you
rendering simply
the raw joy-notes of dawn...Read more of this...

Sonnet III: Turn to Yon Vale Beneath

by Mary Darby Robinson
 Turn to yon vale beneath, whose tangled shade
Excludes the blazing torch of noon-day light,
Where sportive Fawns, and dimpled Loves invite,
The bow'r of Pleasure opens to the glade:
Lull'd by soft flutes, on leaves of violets laid,
There witching beauty greets the ravish'd sight,
More gentle than the arbitress of night
In all her silv'ry panoply array'd!
The birds breathe bliss! light zephyrs kiss the...Read more of this...

Psalm XXXII: Happy the Man

by Isaac Watts
 Happy the man to whom his God
No more imputes his sin,
But, washed in the Redeemer's blood,
Hath made his garments clean.

Happy beyond expression he
Who debts are thus discharged;
And from the guilty bondage free,
He feels his soul enlarged.

His spirit hates deceit and lies,
His words are all sincere;
He guards his heart, he guards his eyes,
To keep his conscience clear.

While I my inward...Read more of this...

Amidst the Flowers a Jug of Wine

by Li Bai
Amidst the flowers a jug of wine,

I pour alone lacking companionship.

So raising the cup I invite the Moon,

Then turn to my shadow which makes three of us.

Because the Moon does not know how to drink,

My shadow merely follows the movement of my body.

The moon has brought the shadow to keep me company a while,

The practice of mirth should keep pace...Read more of this...

Madam La Maquise

by Robert William Service
 Said Hongray de la Glaciere unto his proud Papa:
"I want to take a wife mon Père," The Marquis laughed: "Ha! Ha!
And whose, my son?" he slyly said; but Hongray with a frown
Cried, "Fi! Papa, I mean - to wed, I want to settle down."
The Marquis de la Glaciere responded with a smile;
"You're young my boy; I much prefer that...Read more of this...

Sonnet LVI

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 284] SONNET LVI. L' aura e l' odore e 'l refrigerio e l' ombra. HER OWN VIRTUES IMMORTALISE HER IN HEAVEN, AND HIS PRAISES ON EARTH.  The air and scent, the comfort and the shadeOf my sweet laurel, and its flowery sight,That to my weary life gave rest and...Read more of this...

The Duties of an Aide-de-camp

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 Oh, some folk think vice-royalty is festive and hilarious, 
The duties of an A.D.C. are manifold and various, 
So listen, whilst I tell in song 
The duties of an aide-de-cong. 
Whatsoever betide 
To the Governor's side 
We must stick -- or the public would eat him -- 
For each bounder we see 
Says, "Just introduce me 
To His Lordship...Read more of this...

There Is A Candle In Your Heart

by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
There is a candle in your heart,
      ready to be kindled.
There is a void in your soul,
      ready to be filled.
You feel it, don’t you?
You feel the separation
      from the Beloved.
Invite Him to fill you up,
      embrace the fire.
Remind those who tell you otherwise that 
      Love
      comes...Read more of this...

Depressed By A Book Of Bad Poetry I Walk Toward An Unused Pasture And Invite The Insects To Join Me

by James Wright
 Relieved, I let the book fall behind a stone.
I climb a slight rise of grass.
I do not want to disturb the ants
Who are walking single file up the fence post,
Carrying small white petals,
Casting shadows so frail that I can see through them.
I close my eyes for a moment and listen.
The old grasshoppers
Are tired, they leap heavily now,
Their thighs are...Read more of this...

Long Point Light

by Mark Doty
 Long Pont's apparitional
this warm spring morning,
the strand a blur of sandy light,


and the square white
of the lighthouse-separated from us
by the bay's ultramarine


as if it were nowhere
we could ever go-gleams
like a tower's ghost, hazing


into the rinsed blue of March,
our last outpost in the huge
indetermination of sea.


It seems cheerful enough,
in the strengthening sunlight,
fixed point accompanying our walk

along the shore. Sometimes I...Read more of this...

Charles Dickens

by Dorothy Parker
 Who call him spurious and shoddy
Shall do it o'er my lifeless body.
I heartily invite such birds
To come outside and say those words!...Read more of this...

524. Song—The lass that made the bed to me

by Robert Burns
 WHEN Januar’ wind was blawing cauld,
 As to the north I took my way,
The mirksome night did me enfauld,
 I knew na where to lodge till day:


By my gude luck a maid I met,
 Just in the middle o’ my care,
And kindly she did me invite
 To walk into a chamber fair.


I bow’d fu’ low unto this maid,
 And...Read more of this...

Amidst the Flowers a Jug of Wine

by Li Po
 Amidst the flowers a jug of wine, 
I pour alone lacking companionship. 
So raising the cup I invite the Moon, 
Then turn to my shadow which makes three of us. 
Because the Moon does not know how to drink, 
My shadow merely follows the movement of my body. 
The moon has brought the shadow to keep me company a...Read more of this...

Comfort In Tears

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 How happens it that thou art sad,

While happy all appear?
Thine eye proclaims too well that thou

Hast wept full many a tear.

"If I have wept in solitude,

None other shares my grief,
And tears to me sweet balsam are,

And give my heart relief."

Thy happy friends invite thee now,--

Oh come, then, to our breast!
And let the loss thou hast sustain'd

Be there to us...Read more of this...

Farm Implements and Rutabagas in a Landscape

by John Ashbery
 The first of the undecoded messages read: "Popeye sits 
in thunder,
Unthought of. From that shoebox of an apartment,
From livid curtain's hue, a tangram emerges: a country."
Meanwhile the Sea Hag was relaxing on a green couch: "How 
pleasant
To spend one's vacation en la casa de Popeye," she 
scratched
Her cleft chin's solitary hair. She remembered spinach

And was going to ask Wimpy...Read more of this...

Doors of Daring

by Henry Van Dyke
 The mountains that enfold the vale
With walls of granite, steep and high,
Invite the fearless foot to scale
Their stairway toward the sky. 

The restless, deep, dividing sea
That flows and foams from shore to shore,
Calls to its sunburned chivalry,
"Push out, set sail, explore!" 

And all the bars at which we fret, 
That seem to prison and control, 
Are but the doors...Read more of this...

Phantasmagoria Canto I (The Trystyng )

by Lewis Carroll
 ONE winter night, at half-past nine,
Cold, tired, and cross, and muddy,
I had come home, too late to dine,
And supper, with cigars and wine,
Was waiting in the study. 

There was a strangeness in the room,
And Something white and wavy
Was standing near me in the gloom -
I took it for the carpet-broom
Left by that careless slavey. 

But presently the Thing began
To...Read more of this...

On Journeys Through The States

by Walt Whitman
 ON journeys through the States we start, 
(Ay, through the world—urged by these songs, 
Sailing henceforth to every land—to every sea;) 
We, willing learners of all, teachers of all, and lovers of all. 

We have watch’d the seasons dispensing themselves, and passing on,
We have said, Why should not a man or woman do as much as the seasons, and...Read more of this...

Oatmeal

by Galway Kinnell
 I eat oatmeal for breakfast.
I make it on the hot plate and put skimmed milk on it.
I eat it alone. 
I am aware it is not good to eat oatmeal alone.
Its consistency is such that is better for your mental health 
 if somebody eats it with you.
That is why I often think up an imaginary companion to have...Read more of this...

Of Death I try to think like this --

by Emily Dickinson
 Of Death I try to think like this --
The Well in which they lay us
Is but the Likeness of the Brook
That menaced not to slay us,
But to invite by that Dismay
Which is the Zest of sweetness
To the same Flower Hesperian,
Decoying but to greet us --

I do remember when a Child
With bolder Playmates straying
To where a Brook that seemed a...Read more of this...

I prithee spare me gentle boy

by Sir John Suckling
 I prithee spare me gentle boy,
Press me no more for that slight toy,
That foolish trifle of an heart;
I swear it will not do its part,
Though thou dost thine, employ'st thy pow'r and art.

For through long custom it has known
The little secrets, and is grown
Sullen and wise, will have its will,
And like old hawks pursues that still
That makes least sport,...Read more of this...

LAllegro

by John Milton
 Hence, loathed Melancholy,
............Of Cerberus and blackest Midnight born
In Stygian cave forlorn
............'Mongst horrid shapes, and shrieks, and sights
unholy!
Find out some uncouth cell,
............Where brooding Darkness spreads his jealous wings,
And the night-raven sings;
............There, under ebon shades and low-browed rocks,
As ragged as thy locks,
............In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
But come, thou Goddess fair and free,
In heaven yclept Euphrosyne,
And by men heart-easing Mirth;
Whom lovely...Read more of this...

Death Of A Cockroach

by Robert William Service
 I opened wide the bath-room door,
And all at once switched on the light,
When moving swift across the floor
I saw a streak of ebon bright:
Then quick, with slipper in my hand,
Before it could escape,--I slammed.
I missed it once, I missed it twice,
But got it ere it gained its lair.
I fear my words were far from nice,
Though d----s with me are...Read more of this...

Leudemans-on-the-River

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 Toward even when the day leans down, 
To kiss the upturned face of night, 
Out just beyond the loud-voiced town 
I know a spot of calm delight. 
Like crimson arrows from a quiver 
The red rays pierce the water flowing, 
While we go dreaming, singing, rowing, 
To Leudeman's-on-the-River.

The hills, like some glad mocking-bird, 
Send back our laughter and our...Read more of this...

Million Man March Poem

by Maya Angelou
The night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.

Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,
I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.
Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound,
You couldn't even call out my name.
You were helpless and so was I,
But unfortunately throughout history
You've worn a badge...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Invite poems.

Get a Premium Membership
Turn off ads, get more exposure for your poetry, and get more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Diverse Voices: The Poetry of Human Rights and the Pursuit of Peace