Famous Languid Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Alastor: or the Spirit of Solitude

...ell, where odorous plants entwine
Beneath the hollow rocks a natural bower,
Beside a sparkling rivulet he stretched
His languid limbs. A vision on his sleep
There came, a dream of hopes that never yet 
Had flushed his cheek. He dreamed a veilèd maid
Sate near him, talking in low solemn tones.
Her voice was like the voice of his own soul
Heard in the calm of thought; its music long,
Like woven sounds of streams and breezes, held
His inmost sense suspended in its web
Of many-co...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe


Endymion: Book II

...and his love
Henceforth was dove-like.--Loth was he to move
From the imprinted couch, and when he did,
'Twas with slow, languid paces, and face hid
In muffling hands. So temper'd, out he stray'd
Half seeing visions that might have dismay'd
Alecto's serpents; ravishments more keen
Than Hermes' pipe, when anxious he did lean
Over eclipsing eyes: and at the last
It was a sounding grotto, vaulted, vast,
O'er studded with a thousand, thousand pearls,
And crimson mouthed shells wit...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Epipsychidion (excerpt)

...
A veil for our seclusion, close as night's,
Where secure sleep may kill thine innocent lights;
Sleep, the fresh dew of languid love, the rain
Whose drops quench kisses till they burn again.
And we will talk, until thought's melody
Become too sweet for utterance, and it die
In words, to live again in looks, which dart
With thrilling tone into the voiceless heart,
Harmonizing silence without a sound.
Our breath shall intermix, our bosoms bound,
And our veins beat together; and...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Fancy

...85 
Slipt its golden clasp, and down 
Fell her kirtle to her feet, 
While she held the goblet sweet, 
And Jove grew languid.¡ªBreak the mesh 
Of the Fancy's silken leash; 90 
Quickly break her prison-string, 
And such joys as these she'll bring.¡ª 
Let the wing¨¨d Fancy roam, 
Pleasure never is at home. ...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Fruit of the Flower

...an
Have little depth to fear.

And yet my father's eyes can boast
How full his life has been;
There haunts them yet the languid ghost
Of some still sacred sin.

And though my mother chants of God,
And of the mystic river,
I've seen a bit of checkered sod
Set all her flesh aquiver.

Why should he deem it pure mischance
A son of his is fain
To do a naked tribal dance
Each time he hears the rain?

Why should she think it devil's art
That all my songs should be
Of love and lovers...Read more of this...
by Cullen, Countee


Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur (excerpt)

...ld have spoken, but he found not words;
Then took with care, and kneeling on one knee,
O'er both his shoulders drew the languid hands,
And rising bore him thro' the place of tombs.


But, as he walk'd, King Arthur panted hard,
Like one that feels a nightmare on his bed
When all the house is mute. So sigh'd the King,
Muttering and murmuring at his ear, "Quick, quick!
I fear it is too late, and I shall die."
But the other swiftly strode from ridge to ridge,
Clothed with his bre...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Love And Madness

...
Trembling and faint, I drop the guilty steel !
Cold on my heart the hand of terror lies,
And shades of horror close my languid eyes !

Oh ! 't was a deed of Murder's deepest grain !
Could Broderick's soul so true to wrath remain ?
A friend long true, a once fond lover fell ?
Where Love was fostered could not Pity dwell ?

Unhappy youth ! while you pale cresscent glows
To watch on silent Nature's deep repose,
Thy sleepless spirit, breathing from the tomb ,
Foretells my fate, ...Read more of this...
by Campbell, Thomas

Mementos

...erie. 
Out on the lawn, or where the trees 
Let in the lustre fitfully, 
As their boughs parted momently, 
To the soft, languid, summer breeze. 
Alas ! that she should e'er have flung 
Those pure, though lonely joys away­ 
Deceived by false and guileful tongue, 
She gave her hand, then suffered wrong; 
Oppressed, ill-used, she faded young, 
And died of grief by slow decay. 

Open that casket­look how bright 
Those jewels flash upon the sight; 
The brilliants have not lost a r...Read more of this...
by Bronte, Charlotte

Music

...the moon,
Bears them all away, and away, and away,
Floating in the trance of the dance.

Then begins a measure stately,
Languid, slow, serene;
All the dancers move sedately,
Stepping leisurely and straitly,
With a courtly mien;
Crossing hands and changing places,
Bowing low between,
While the minuet inlaces
Waving arms and woven paces,--
Glittering damaskeen.
Where is she whose form is folden
In its royal sheen?
>From our longing eyes withholden
By her mystic girdle golden,
B...Read more of this...
by Dyke, Henry Van

Ode to the Moon

...unt'ring gait, the dewy meads along. 

CHASTE ORB! as thro' the vaulted sky
Feath'ry clouds transparent sail; 
When thy languid, weeping eye,
Sheds its soft tears upon the painted vale; 
As I ponder o'er the floods,
Or tread with listless step, th'embow'ring woods,
O, let thy transitory beam,
Soothe my sad mind, with FANCY'S aëry dream. 

Wrapt in REFLECTION, let me trace 
O'er the vast ethereal space, 
Stars, whose twinkling fires illume 
Dark-brow'd NIGHT'S obtrusive gloom;...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Mary Darby

The Artists

...he honest sense 'gainst vice put forth its powers,
Before a Solon had devised the laws
That slowly bring to light their languid flowers.
Before Eternity's vast scheme
Was to the thinker's mind revealed,
Was't not foreshadowed in his dream,
Whose eyes explored yon starry field?

Urania,--the majestic dreaded one,
Who wears a glory of Orions twined
Around her brow, and who is seen by none
Save purest spirits, when, in splendor shrined,
She soars above the stars in pride,
Ascend...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

The Boat

...I must launch out my boat. 
The languid hours pass by on the 
shore---Alas for me! 

The spring has done its flowering and taken leave. 
And now with the burden of faded futile flowers I wait and linger. 

The waves have become clamorous, and upon the bank in the shady lane 
the yellow leaves flutter and fall. 

What emptiness do you gaze upon! 
Do you not feel a thrill passing through the...Read more of this...
by Tagore, Rabindranath

The Bride of Abydos

...stroy — at thy command! 
Girt by my band, Zuleika at my side, 
The spoil of nations shall bedeck my bride. 
The Haram's languid years of listless ease 
Are well resign'd for cares — for joys like these: 
Not blind to fate, I see, where'er I rove, 
Unnumber'd perils — but one only love! 
Yet well my toils shall that fond beast repay, 
Though fortune frown or falser friends betray. 
How dear the dream in darkest hours of ill, 
Should all be changed, to find thee faithful still!...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Eve Of St. Agnes

...very night: good angels her deceive!
But let me laugh awhile, I've mickle time to grieve."

 Feebly she laugheth in the languid moon,
 While Porphyro upon her face doth look,
 Like puzzled urchin on an aged crone
 Who keepeth clos'd a wond'rous riddle-book,
 As spectacled she sits in chimney nook.
 But soon his eyes grew brilliant, when she told
 His lady's purpose; and he scarce could brook
 Tears, at the thought of those enchantments cold,
And Madeline asleep in lap of lege...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

The Female Vagrant

...common kindness had no part.  Of service done with careless cruelty,  Fretting the fever round the languid heart,  And groans, which, as they said, would make a dead man start.   These things just served to stir the torpid sense,  Nor pain nor pity in my bosom raised.  Memory, though slow, returned with strength: and thence  Dismissed, again on open day I gazed,  At houses, men, and common...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

The Jacquerie A Fragment

...unarmed head, shot from behind a house,
So, evil falls, and a fool foretells the truth."
"Well," quoth Lord Raoul, with languid utterance,
"'Tis very well -- and thou'rt a foolish fool,
Nay, thou art Folly's perfect witless man,
Stupidity doth madly dote on thee,
And Idiocy doth fight her for thy love,
Yet Silliness doth love thee best of all,
And while they quarrel, snatcheth thee to her
And saith `Ah! 'tis my sweetest No-brains: mine!'
-- And 'tis my mood to-day some ill sh...Read more of this...
by Lanier, Sidney

The Triumph Of Death

...for ever bound!'It ceased, and to the spot whence came the soundI turn'd my languid eyes, and her beheld,Your love who check'd, my pity who impell'd;I recognised her by that voice and air,So often which had chased my spirit's gloom,Now calm and wise, as courteous then and fail.But e'en to you when dearest, in the bloomRead more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

The Triumph Of Fame

...[Pg 389]Now satiate with the view, my languid sightHad fail'd, but soon perceived with new delightA train, like Heaven's descending powers, appear,Whose radiance seem'd my cherish'd sight to clearThere march'd in rank the dames of ancient days,Antiope, renown'd for martial praise;...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

Things I Didnt Know I Loved

...whether I'm under or up above them
whether they look like giants or shaggy white beasts

moonlight the falsest the most languid the most petit-bourgeois 
strikes me
I like it

I didn't know I liked rain
whether it falls like a fine net or splatters against the glass my 
 heart leaves me tangled up in a net or trapped inside a drop 
 and takes off for uncharted countries I didn't know I loved 
 rain but why did I suddenly discover all these passions sitting 
 by the window on ...Read more of this...
by Hikmet, Nazim

White Flock

...gly green is this the steppe before
The beaming sun. Like a warm
Wave, licks the tender shore.

When from happiness languid and tired
I was, then of such quiet
With trembling inexpressible I dreamed
And this in my imagining I deemed
The after-mortal wandering of the soul.



x x x

Like a white stone at the bottom of the well,
One memory lies in me.
I cannot and I do not want to struggle,
It is both joy and suffering.

I think that anyone who looks into m...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

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