Famous Keenest Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Legend of Service

...word.
Then, while the echoes murmured Bernol's name,
Through aisles that hushed behind him, Bernol came;
Strung to the keenest pitch of conscious might,
With lips prepared and firm, and eyes alight.
One moment at the pulpit steps he knelt
In silent prayer, and on his shoulder felt
The angel's hand: --"The Master bids thee go
"Alone to Spiran's huts, across the snow,
"To serve Him there." Then Bernol's hidden face
Went white as death, and for about the space
Of ten slow heart...Read more of this...
by Dyke, Henry Van


A Waif

...s never strayed as far,
Or never strayed beyond the horizon's bar;
Whose narrow hearts and souls are never stirred
With keenest pleasures, or with sharpest pain;
Who rise and eat and sleep, and rise again,
Nor question why or wherefore. Men whose minds
Are never shaken by wild passion winds;

Women whose broadest, deepeat realm of thought
The bridal veil will cover.
Who see not
God's mighty work lying undone to-day, -
Work that a woman's hands can do as well,
Oh, soul of mine...Read more of this...
by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler

Beowulf (Modern English)

...the portents. (ll. 194-204)

This outstanding hero had chosen champions
from the Geatish tribe, from those he found
keenest for battle—one of some fifteen men
seeking the surge-wood, the warrior leading the way,
a sea-crafty man to the limit of the shore. (ll. 205-09)

The time went forth—the ship was upon the waves,
the boat under the sea-cliffs. The warriors made ready,
mounting the prow. The currents wound about,
stream against the sand. The soldiers carried
on...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Beowulf (Old English)

...him dear;
they whetted the hero, and hailed good omens.
And now the bold one from bands of Geats
comrades chose, the keenest of warriors
e’er he could find; with fourteen men
the sea-wood {3a} he sought, and, sailor proved,
led them on to the land’s confines.
Time had now flown; {3b} afloat was the ship,
boat under bluff. On board they climbed,
warriors ready; waves were churning
sea with sand; the sailors bore
on the breast of the bark their bright array,
their m...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Inferno (English)

...unceasing wail 
 By which the air of all the hells is stirred 
 Increasing ever, which caused mine eyes unveil 
 Their keenest vision to search what came, and he 
 Who marked, indulgent, told. "Ahead we see 
 The city of Dis, with all its dolorous crew, 
 Numerous, and burdened with reliefless pain, 
 And guilt intolerable to think." 

 I said, 
 "Master, already through the night I view 
 The mosques of that sad city, that fiery red 
 As heated metal extend, and crowd the p...Read more of this...
by Alighieri, Dante


Johnny Boer

...ad, you see her clean and clear, 
Next day at dawn -- "What, ho! she bumps" -- from somewhere in the rear. 
Or else the keenest-eyed patrol will miss him with the glass -- 
He's lying hidden in the rocks to let the leaders pass; 
But when the mainguard comes along he opens up the fun; 
There's lots of ammunition for the little Maxim gun. 

But after all the job is sure, although the job is slow. 
We have to see the business through, the Boer has got to go. 
With Nordenfeldt a...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Lines to Him Who Will Understand Them

..., soothed ev'ry woe; 
That TRUTH, unwelcome to my ear, 
Swells the deep sigh, recalls the tear, 
Gives to the sense the keenest smart, 
Checks the warm pulses of the Heart, 
Darkens my FATE and steals away 
Each gleam of joy thro' life's sad day. 

BRITAIN, FAREWELL! I quit thy shore, 
My native Country charms no more; 
No guide to mark the toilsome road; 
No destin'd clime; no fix'd abode; 
Alone and sad, ordain'd to trace 
The vast expanse of endless space; 
To view, upon t...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Mary Darby

Mountain Life

...adow veil; 
A cloud-sea laps the precipice 
Before the evening gale: 
The welter of the cloud-waves grey 
Cuts off from keenest sight 
The glacier, looking out by day 
O'er all the district, far away, 
And crowned with golden light. 

But o'er the smouldering cloud-wrack's flow, 
Where gold and amber kiss, 
Stands up the archipelago, 
A home of shining peace. 
The mountain eagle seems to sail 
A ship far seen at even; 
And over all a serried pale 
Of peaks, like giants ranked...Read more of this...
by Ibsen, Henrik

My Aviary

...oat a sea-fowl at a sea-fowl's side;

From rain, hail, snow in feathery mantle muffled,
Clear-eyed, strong-limbed, with keenest sense to hear
My mate soft murmuring, who, with plumes unruffled,
Where'er I wander still is nestling near;

The great blue hollow like a garment o'er me;
Space all unmeasured, unrecorded time;
While seen with inward eye moves on before me
Thought's pictured train in wordless pantomime.

A voice recalls me.-- From my window turning
I find myself a pl...Read more of this...
by Holmes, Oliver Wendell

Run to Death

...boy,
And the gipsy, roused to terror, stayed her step, and turned her head--
Saw the faces of those huntsmen, lit with keenest cruel joy--
Sent a cry of grief to Heaven, closer clasped her child, and fled!

* * * * * * *
O ye nobles of the palace! O ye gallant-hearted lords!
Who would stoop for Leila's kerchief, or for Clementina's gloves,
Who would rise up all indignant, with your shining sheathless swords,
At the breathing of dishonour to your languid lady loves!
O, I tell...Read more of this...
by Levy, Amy

Self-Congratulation

...ngs speak. 

But, thank God! you might gaze on mine
For hours, and never know
The secret changes of my soul
From joy to keenest woe.
Last night, as we sat round the fire
Conversing merrily,
We heard, without, approaching steps
Of one well known to me! 

There was no trembling in my voice,
No blush upon my cheek,
No lustrous sparkle in my eyes,
Of hope, or joy, to speak;
But, oh! my spirit burned within,
My heart beat full and fast!
He came not nigh -­ he went away -­
And then...Read more of this...
by Bronte, Anne

Sword Blades and Poppy Seed

...ke a rock
In the midst of a heaving, turbulent sea
Of every sort of cutlery.
There lay knives sharpened to any use,
The keenest lancet, and the obtuse
And blunted pruning bill-hook; blades
Of razors, scalpels, shears; cascades
Of penknives, with handles of mother-of-pearl,
And scythes, and sickles, and scissors; a whirl
Of points and edges, and underneath
Shot the gleam of a saw with bristling teeth.
My head grew dizzy, I seemed to hear
A battle-cry from somewhere near,
The c...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

The Female Vagrant

...n, now utterly refused,  The fields I for my bed have often used:  But, what afflicts my peace with keenest ruth  Is, that I have my inner self abused,  Foregone the home delight of constant truth,  And clear and open soul, so prized in fearless youth.   Three years a wanderer, often have I view'd,  In tears, the sun towards that country tend  Where my poor heart lost all its fortitude:&nbs...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

The Giaour

...am,
Nor mourns a life to them transferred,
Should rend her rash devoted breast,
And find them flown her empty nest.
The keenest pangs the wretched find
Are rapture to the dreary void,
The leafless desert of the mind,
The waste of feelings unemployed.
Who would be doomed to gaze upon
A sky without a cloud or sun?
Less hideous far the tempest's roar
Than ne'er to brave the billows more -
Thrown, when the war of winds is o'er,
A lonely wreck on fortune's shore,
'Mid sullen calm,...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Grave-digger

...ome into sight,
The long, slow roads.
Marching towards him, with all their loads
Of coffins white.


Here are his keenest thoughts, that one by one
His lukewarm soul hath tainted and undone;
And his white loves of simple days of yore,
in lewd and tempting mirrors sullied o'er;
The proud, mute vows that to himself he made
Are here—for he hath scored and cancelled them,
As one may cut and notch a diadem;
And here, inert and prone, his will is laid,
Whose gestures ...Read more of this...
by Verhaeren, Emile

The Great Adventure of Max Breuck

...me purest sulphur-yellow, others made
An ivory-white with disks of copper flecked.
Sprinkled and striped, tasselled, or keenest edged.
Striated, powdered, freckled, long or short.
They bloomed, and seemed strange wonder-moths new-fledged,
Born of the spectrum wedded to a flame.
The shade within the arbour made a port
To o'ertaxed eyes, its still, green twilight rest became.

33
Her knitting-needles clicked and Christine talked,
This child matured to woman unaware,
The first t...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

The Three Voices

...
"Tell me my fault," was all he said. 

When, at high Noon, the blazing sky
Scorched in his head each haggard eye,
Then keenest rose his weary cry. 

And when at Eve the unpitying sun
Smiled grimly on the solemn fun,
"Alack," he sighed, "what HAVE I done?" 

But saddest, darkest was the sight,
When the cold grasp of leaden Night
Dashed him to earth, and held him tight. 

Tortured, unaided, and alone,
Thunders were silence to his groan,
Bagpipes sweet music to its tone: 

"Wha...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

The To-Be-Forgotten

...hese, our sped ancestry,
Lie here embraced by deeper death than we;
Nor shape nor thought of theirs can you descry
With keenest backward eye.

IV
"They count as quite forgot;
They are as men who have existed not;
Theirs is a loss past loss of fitful breath;
It is the second death.

V
"We here, as yet, each day
Are blest with dear recall; as yet, can say
We hold in some soul loved continuance
Of shape and voice and glance.

VI
"But what has been will be --
First memory, then o...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas

There is a word

...r runs the breathless sun --
Wherever roams the day --
There is its noiseless onset --
There is its victory!
Behold the keenest marksman!
The most accomplished shot!
Time's sublimest target
Is a soul "forgot!"...Read more of this...
by Dickinson, Emily

To My Enemy

...hat love perchance had failed to do. 

I had not scaled such weary heights
But that I held thy scorn in fear,
And never keenest lure might match
The subtle goading of thy sneer. 

Thine anger struck from me a fire
That purged all dull content away,
Our mortal strife to me has been
Unflagging spur from day to day. 

And thus, while all the world may laud
The gifts of love and loyalty,
I lay my meed of gratitude
Before thy feet, mine enemy!...Read more of this...
by Montgomery, Lucy Maud

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