Famous Javelin Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Atalantas Race

...re by his horn the Dryads well might know
His thrust against the bear's heart had been true,
And there Adonis' bane his javelin slew,
But still in vain through rough and smooth he went,
For none the more his restlessness was spent. 

So wandering, he to Argive cities came, 
And in the lists with valiant men he stood, 
And by great deeds he won him praise and fame, 
And heaps of wealth for little-valued blood; 
But none of all these things, or life, seemed good 
Unto his heart...Read more of this...
by Morris, William


Battle Of Brunanburgh

...d
Lord everlasting,
Glode over earth till the glorious creature
Sank to his setting.
There lay many a man
Marr'd by the javelin,
Men of the Northland
Shot over shield.
There was the Scotsman
Weary of war. 

We the West-Saxons,
Long as the daylight
Lasted, in companies
Troubled the track of the host that we hated;
Grimly with swords that were sharp from the grindstone
Fiercely we hack'd at the flyers before us. 

Mighty the Mercian,
Hard was his hand-play,
Sparing not any of
T...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Bride of Abydos The

...game of mimic slaughter, 
Careering cleave the folded felt [13] 
With sabre stroke right sharply dealt; 
Nor mark'd the javelin-darting crowd, 
Nor heard their Ollahs wild and loud [14] — 
He thought but of old Giaffir's daughter! 

X. 

No word from Selim's bosom broke; 
One sigh Zuleika's thought bespoke: 
Still gazed he through the lattice grate, 
Pale, mute, and mournfully sedate. 
To him Zuleika's eye was turn'd, 
But little from his aspect learn'd; 
Equal her grief, yet...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Endymion: Book IV

...lope;
And not a tree, beneath whose rooty shade
He had not with his tamed leopards play'd.
Nor could an arrow light, or javelin,
Fly in the air where his had never been--
And yet he knew it not.

 O treachery!
Why does his lady smile, pleasing her eye
With all his sorrowing? He sees her not.
But who so stares on him? His sister sure!
Peona of the woods!--Can she endure--
Impossible--how dearly they embrace!
His lady smiles; delight is in her face;
It is no treachery.

 "Dear ...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Gertrude of Wyoming

...e shade!

Then came of every race the mingled swarm,
Far rung the groves and gleam'd the midnight grass,
With Flambeau, javelin, and naked arm;
As warriors wheel'd their culverins of brass,
Sprung from the woods, a bold athletic mass,
Whom virtue fires, and liberty combines:
And first the wild Moravian yagers pass,
His plumed host the dark Iberian joins--
And Scotia's sword beneath the Highland thistle shines.

And in, the buskin'd hunters of the deer,
To Albert's home, with ...Read more of this...
by Campbell, Thomas


Goliath and David

...l perish so like bear or lion.
But … the historian of that fight 
Had not the heart to tell it right. 

Striding within javelin range, 
Goliath marvels at this strange 
Goodly-faced boy so proud of strength.
David’s clear eye measures the length; 
With hand thrust back, he cramps one knee, 
Poises a moment thoughtfully, 
And hurls with a long vengeful swing. 
The pebble, humming from the sling
Like a wild bee, flies a sure line 
For the forehead of the Philistine; 
Then … but...Read more of this...
by Graves, Robert

Loves Grave

...MARK where the pressing wind shoots javelin-like, 
Its skeleton shadow on the broad-back'd wave! 
Here is a fitting spot to dig Love's grave; 
Here where the ponderous breakers plunge and strike, 
And dart their hissing tongues high up the sand: 
In hearing of the ocean, and in sight 
Of those ribb'd wind-streaks running into white. 
If I the death of Love had deeply plann'd, 
I never could ha...Read more of this...
by Meredith, George

Lydia, by all above (LYDIA, DIC PER OMNES)

...l,
     His arms no longer black and blue with honourable toil,
         He who erewhile was known
     For quoit or javelin oft and oft beyond the limit thrown?
         Why skulks he, as they say
     Did Thetis' son before the dawn of Ilion's fatal day,
         For fear the manly dress
     Should fling him into danger's arms, amid the Lycian press?...Read more of this...
by Horace,

Modern Love XLIII: Mark Where the Pressing Wind

...Mark where the pressing wind shoots javelin-like, 
Its skeleton shadow on the broad-backed wave! 
Here is a fitting spot to dig Love's grave; 
Here where the ponderous breakers plunge and strike, 
And dart their hissing tongues high up the sand: 
In hearing of the ocean, and in sight 
Of those ribbed wind-streaks running into white. 
If I the death of Love had deeply planned, 
I never could ha...Read more of this...
by Meredith, George

Paradise Lost: Book 11

...city strong 
Lay siege, encamped; by battery, scale, and mine, 
Assaulting; others from the wall defend 
With dart and javelin, stones, and sulphurous fire; 
On each hand slaughter, and gigantick deeds. 
In other part the sceptered heralds call 
To council, in the city-gates; anon 
Gray-headed men and grave, with warriours mixed, 
Assemble, and harangues are heard; but soon, 
In factious opposition; till at last, 
Of middle age one rising, eminent 
In wise deport, spake much...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Sohrab and Rustum

...ul cry;--
No horse's cry was that, most like the roar
Of some pain'd desert-lion, who all day
Hath trail'd the hunter's javelin in his side,
And comes at night to die upon the sand.
The two hosts heard that cry, and quaked for fear,
And Oxus curdled as it cross'd his stream.
But Sohrab heard, and quail'd not, but rush'd on,
And struck again; and again Rustum bow'd
His head; but this time all the blade, like glass,
Sprang in a thousand shivers on the helm,
And in the hand the ...Read more of this...
by Arnold, Matthew

Soliloquy in Circles

...ange in your pocket,

And then one morn
A child is born.

Your life has been runcible,
Irresponsible,

Like an arrow or javelin
You've been constantly travelin'.

But mostly, I daresay,
Without a chaise percée,

To which by comparison
Nothing's embarison.

But all children matures,
Maybe even yours.

You improve them mentally
And straighten them dentally,

They grow tall as a lancer
And ask questions you can't answer,

And supply you with data
About how everybody else wears l...Read more of this...
by Nash, Ogden

The Ballad Of The Brand

...o the nethermost hell. . . .

Was this he, Tellus, this marble? Tellus . . . not dreaming a dream?
Ah! sharp-edged as a javelin, was that a woman's scream?
Was it a door that shattered, shell-like, under his blow?
Was it his saint, that strumpet, dishevelled and cowering low?
Was it her lover, that wild thing, that twisted and gouged and tore?
Was it a man he was crushing, whose head he beat on the floor?
Laughing the while at its weakness, till sudden he stayed his hand--
Th...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

The Ballad of the White Horse

...is,
Or if our hearts shall break with bliss,
Seeing the stranger go?

"When our last bow is broken, Queen,
And our last javelin cast,
Under some sad, green evening sky,
Holding a ruined cross on high,
Under warm westland grass to lie,
Shall we come home at last?"

And a voice came human but high up,
Like a cottage climbed among
The clouds; or a serf of hut and croft
That sits by his hovel fire as oft,
But hears on his old bare roof aloft
A belfry burst in song.

"The gates of...Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K

The Benefactors

...nail were obsolete
 As means against a foe,
Till, bored by uniform defeat,
 Some genius built the bow.

Then stone and javelin proved as vain
 As old-time tooth and nail;
Till, spurred anew by fear and pain,
 Man fashioned coats of mail.

Then was there safety for the rich
 And danger for the poor,
Till someone mixed a powder which
 Redressed the scale once more.

Helmet and armour disappeared
 With sword and bow and pike,
And, when the smoke of battle cleared,
 All men were...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

The Bride of Abydos

...game of mimic slaughter, 
Careering cleave the folded felt [13] 
With sabre stroke right sharply dealt; 
Nor mark'd the javelin-darting crowd, 
Nor heard their Ollahs wild and loud [14] — 
He thought but of old Giaffir's daughter! 

X. 

No word from Selim's bosom broke; 
One sigh Zuleika's thought bespoke: 
Still gazed he through the lattice grate, 
Pale, mute, and mournfully sedate. 
To him Zuleika's eye was turn'd, 
But little from his aspect learn'd; 
Equal her grief, yet...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Eleusinian Festival

...in the mountain-cleft
Was the Troglodyte concealed;
And the roving Nomad left,
Desert lying, each broad field.
With the javelin, with the bow,
Strode the hunter through the land;
To the hapless stranger woe,
Billow-cast on that wild strand!

When, in her sad wanderings lost,
Seeking traces of her child,
Ceres hailed the dreary coast,
Ah, no verdant plain then smiled!
That she here with trust may stay,
None vouchsafes a sheltering roof;
Not a temple's columns gay
Give of godli...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

The Fight With The Dragon

...d pardon for my sins implored.
Then in the holy fane I placed
My shining armor round my waist,
My right hand grasped my javelin,
The fight then went I to begin;
Instructions gave my squires among,
Commanding them to tarry there;
Then on my steed I nimbly sprung,
And gave my spirit to God's care."

"Soon as I reached the level plain,
My dogs found out the scent amain;
My frightened horse soon reared on high,--
His fear I could not pacify,
For, coiled up in a circle, lo!
There ...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

The Flight Of The Duchess

...ings.
One needs but little tackle to travel in;
So, just one stout cloak shall I indue:
And for a stall, what beats the javelin
With which his boars my father pinned you?
And then, for a purpose you shall hear presently,
Taking some Cotnar, a tight plump skinful,
I shall go journeying, who but I, pleasantly!
Sorrow is vain and despondency sinful.
What's a man's age? He must hurry more, that's all;
Cram in a day, what his youth took a year to hold.
When we mind labour, then on...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Scourge Of Heaven

...the breath of God. 
 
 III. 
 
 Green hills, which round a limpid bay 
 Reflected, bask in the clear wave! 
 The javelin and its buffalo prey, 
 The laughter and the joyous stave! 
 The tent, the manger! these describe 
 A hunting and a fishing tribe 
 Free as the air—their arrows fly 
 Swifter than lightning through the sky! 
 By them is breathed the purest air, 
 Where'er their wanderings may chance! 
 Children and maidens young and fair, 
 And warriors circ...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor

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