Famous Italian Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Italian poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous italian poems. These examples illustrate what a famous italian poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
See also:
by
Thomas Bailey Aldrich
Enamored architect of airy rhyme,
Build as thou wilt, heed not what each man says.
Good souls, but innocent of dreamers’ ways,
Will come, and marvel why thou wastest time;
Others, beholding how thy turrets climb
’Twixt theirs and heaven, will hate thee all thy days;
But most beware of those who come to praise.
O Wondersmith, O worker in sublime
And heaven-sent dreams, let art be all...Read more of this...
by
Charles Baudelaire
Voici venir les temps o? vibrant sur sa tige
Chaque fleur s'?vapore ainsi qu'un encensoir;
Les sons et les parfums tournent dans l'air du soir;
Valse m?lancolique et langoureux vertige!
Chaque fleur s'?vapore ainsi qu'un encensoir;
Le violon fr?mit comme un coeur qu'on afflige;
Valse m?lancolique et langoureux vertige!
Le ciel est triste et beau comme un grand reposoir.
Le violon fr?mit comme un coeur qu'on...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LVII. Per mirar Policleto a prova fiso. ON THE PORTRAIT OF LAURA PAINTED BY SIMON MEMMI. Had Policletus seen her, or the restWho, in past time, won honour in this art,A thousand years had but the meaner partShown of the beauty which o'ercame my breast.But Simon sure, in Paradise the...Read more of this...
by
Oscar Wilde
I reached the Alps: the soul within me burned,
Italia, my Italia, at thy name:
And when from out the mountain's heart I came
And saw the land for which my life had yearned,
I laughed as one who some great prize had earned:
And musing on the marvel of thy fame
I watched the day, till marked with wounds of flame
The turquoise sky to...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XXXII. Quanta invidia ti porto, avara terra. HE ENVIES EARTH, HEAVEN, AND DEATH THEIR POSSESSION OF HIS TREASURE. O earth, whose clay-cold mantle shrouds that face,And veils those eyes that late so brightly shone,[Pg 260]Whence all that gave delight on earth was known,How much I envy thee that...Read more of this...
by
Edwin Arlington Robinson
The table hurled itself, to our surprise,
At Lingard, and anon rapped eagerly:
“When earth is cold and there is no more sea,
There will be what was Lingard. Otherwise,
Why lure the race to ruin through the skies?
And why have Leffingwell, or Calverly?”—
“I wish the ghost would give his name,” said he;
And searching gratitude was in...Read more of this...
by
Patrick Kavanagh
Upon a bank I sat, a child made seer
Of one small primrose flowering in my mind.
Better than wealth it is, I said, to find
One small page of Truth's manuscript made clear.
I looked at Christ transfigured without fear--
The light was very beautiful and kind,
And where the Holy Ghost in flame had signed
I read it through the lenses of a tear.
And...Read more of this...
by
John Berryman
A spot of poontang on a five-foot piece,
Diminutive, but room enough . . like clay
To finger eager on some torrid day . .
Who'd throw her black hair back, and hang, and tease.
Never, not once in all one's horny lease
To'have had a demi-lay, a pretty, gay,
Snug, slim and supple-breasted girl for play . .
She bats her big, warm eyes, and...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 159] SONNET CXXXV. Amor mi manda quel dolce pensero. LIFE WILL FAIL HIM BEFORE HOPE. Love to my mind recalling that sweet thought,The ancient confidant our lives between,Well comforts me, and says I ne'er have beenSo near as now to what I hoped and sought.I, who at...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CLXVIII. Mia ventura ed Amor m' avean sì adorno. HE REGRETS HAVING RETURNED HER GLOVE. Me Love and Fortune then supremely bless'd!Her glove which gold and silken broidery bore!I seem'd to reach of utmost bliss the crest,Musing within myself on her who wore.Ne'er on that day I think, of days...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CXLIII. Per mezzo i boschi inospiti e selvaggi. EVER THINKING ON HER, HE PASSES FEARLESS AND SAFE THROUGH THE FOREST OF ARDENNES. Through woods inhospitable, wild, I rove,Where armèd travellers bend their fearful way;[Pg 164]Nor danger dread, save from that sun of love,Bright sun! which darts a soul-enflaming...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CXLIX. Amor che 'ncende 'l cor d' ardente zelo. LOVE AND JEALOUSY. 'Tis Love's caprice to freeze the bosom nowWith bolts of ice, with shafts of flame now burn;And which his lighter pang, I scarce discern—Or hope or fear, or whelming fire or snow.In heat I shiver, and in cold...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XX. I' ho pien di sospir quest' aer tutto. VAUCLUSE HAS BECOME TO HIM A SCENE OF PAIN. To every sound, save sighs, this air is mute,When from rude rocks, I view the smiling landWhere she was born, who held my life in handFrom its first bud till blossoms turn'd to...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CLXXIX. In nobil sangue vita umile e queta. SHE UNITES IN HERSELF THE HIGHEST EXCELLENCES OF VIRTUE AND BEAUTY. High birth in humble life, reserved yet kind,On youth's gay flower ripe fruits of age and rare,A virtuous heart, therewith a lofty mind,A happy spirit in a pensive air;Her planet, nay,...Read more of this...
by
William Blake
Thou fair-haired angel of the evening,
Now, whilst the sun rests on the mountains, light
Thy bright torch of love; thy radiant crown
Put on, and smile upon our evening bed!
Smile on our loves, and while thou drawest the
Blue curtains of the sky, scatter thy silver dew
On every flower that shuts its sweet eyes
In timely sleep. Let thy west wing sleep on
The...Read more of this...
by
John Milton
On The Proposalls Of Certaine Ministers At The Committee For
Propagation Of The Gospell
Cromwell, our cheif of men, who through a cloud
Not of warr onely, but detractions rude,
Guided by faith & matchless Fortitude
To peace & truth thy glorious way hast plough'd,
And on the neck of crowned Fortune proud
Hast reard Gods Trophies, & his work pursu'd,
While Darwen stream with blood of...Read more of this...
by
Algernon Charles Swinburne
An hour ere sudden sunset fired the west,
Arose two stars upon the pale deep east.
The hall of heaven was clear for night's high feast,
Yet was not yet day's fiery heart at rest.
Love leapt up from his mother's burning breast
To see those warm twin lights, as day decreased,
Wax wider, till when all the sun had ceased,
As suns they shone from...Read more of this...
by
Christina Rossetti
She stands as pale as Parian statues stand;
Like Cleopatra when she turned at bay,
And felt her strength above the Roman sway,
And felt the aspic writhing in her hand.
Her face is steadfast toward the shadowy land,
For dim beyond it looms the light of day;
Her feet are steadfast; all the arduous way
That foot-track hath not wavered on...Read more of this...
by
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
The sea awoke at midnight from its sleep,
And round the pebbly beaches far and wide
I heard the first wave of the rising tide
Rush onward with uninterrupted sweep;
A voice out of the silence of the deep,
A sound mysteriously multiplied
As of a cataract from the mountain's side,
Or roar of winds upon a wooded steep.
So comes to us at times, from the...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CL. Se 'l dolce sguardo di costei m' ancide. HE IS CONTINUALLY IN FEAR OF DISPLEASING HER. If thus the dear glance of my lady slay,On her sweet sprightly speech if dangers wait,If o'er me Love usurp a power so great,Oft as she speaks, or when her sun-smiles play;Alas! what...Read more of this...
by
Delmore Schwartz
(After Rilke)
We cannot know the indescribable face
Where the eyes like apples ripened. Even so,
His torso has a candelabra's glow,
His gaze, contained as in a mirror's grace,
Shines within it. Otherwise his breast
Would not be dazzling. Nor would you recognize
The smile that moves along his curving thighs,
There where love's strength is caught within its nest.
This stone would not be broken, but...Read more of this...
by
John Donne
If faithful souls be alike glorified
As angels, then my fathers soul doth see,
And adds this even to full felicity,
That valiantly I hells wide mouth o'erstride:
But if our minds to these souls be descried
By circumstances, and by signs that be
Apparent in us, not immediately,
How shall my mind's white truth by them be tried?
They see idolatrous lovers weep and mourn,
And vile...Read more of this...
by
Algernon Charles Swinburne
It does not hurt. She looked along the knife
Smiling, and watched the thick drops mix and run
Down the sheer blade; not that which had been done
Could hurt the sweet sense of the Roman wife,
But that which was to do yet ere the strife
Could end for each for ever, and the sun:
Nor was the palm yet nor was peace yet...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CCI. Real natura, angelico intelletto. ON THE KISS OF HONOUR GIVEN BY CHARLES OF LUXEMBURG TO LAURA AT A BANQUET. A kingly nature, an angelic mind,A spotless soul, prompt aspect and keen eye,Quick penetration, contemplation highAnd truly worthy of the breast which shrined:In bright assembly lovely ladies join'dTo grace...Read more of this...
by
Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CLXXII. Dolci ire, dolci sdegni e dolci paci. HE CONSOLES HIMSELF WITH THE THOUGHT THAT HE WILL BE ENVIED BY POSTERITY. Sweet scorn, sweet anger, and sweet misery,Forgiveness sweet, sweet burden, and sweet ill;Sweet accents that mine ear so sweetly thrill,That sweetly bland, now sweetly fierce can be.[Pg...Read more of this...
Dont forget to view our wonderful member Italian poems.