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Famous Lodging Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Service, Robert William
...ne sonnets I'm blameless,
My model has been - Mother Goose.
And I fancy my grave-digger griping
As he gives my last lodging a pat:
"This guy wrote McGrew;
'Twas the best he could do" . . .
So I'll go to my maker with that....Read more of this...



by McGonagall, William Topaz
...e stands on the cliff four hundred feet above the sea,
Looking down,'tis sure to fill his heart with ecstasy. 

The lodging-houses at Bablicome are magnificent to be seen,
And the accommodation there would suit either king or queen,
And there's some exquisite cottages embowered in the woodland,
And sloping down to the sea shore, is really very grand. 

You do not wonder at Napoleon's exclamation
As he stood on the deck of the "Bellerophon," in a fit of admiration,
Whe...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...provided for, hued in the sun, and tinged for once with joy, 
Marriage, the street, the factory, farm, the house-room, lodging-room, 
Labor and toil, the bath, gymnasium, play-ground, library, college,
The student, boy or girl, led forward to be taught; 
The sick cared for, the shoeless shod—the orphan father’d and mother’d, 
The hungry fed, the houseless housed; 
(The intentions perfect and divine, 
The workings, details, haply human.)

4
O thou within this tomb, 
From ...Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...music as they pass,
But deeming it no more, alas!
Than the hollow sound of brass.

Yet perchance a sleepless wight,
Lodging at some humble inn
In the narrow lanes of life,
When the dusk and hush of night
Shut out the incessant din
Of daylight and its toil and strife,
May listen with a calm delight
To the poet's melodies,
Till he hears, or dreams he hears,
Intermingled with the song,
Thoughts that he has cherished long;
Hears amid the chime and singing
The bells of his own...Read more of this...

by Betjeman, John
...winds chill and shriller
Than those of summer, all their cold unload
Full on the gimcrack attic of the villa
Where I am lodging off the Orwell Road,
I put my final shilling in the meter
And only make my loneliness completer.

In eighteen ninety-four when we were founded,
Counting our Reverend Mother we were six,
How full of hope we were and prayer-surrounded
"The Little Sisters of the Hanging Pyx".
We built our orphanage. We built our school.
Now only I am lef...Read more of this...



by Marvell, Andrew
...oet, and Musician,
I for some branch of Melchizedeck took,
(Though he derives himself from my Lord Brooke)
I sought his Lodging; which is at the Sign
Of the sad Pelican; Subject divine
For Poetry: There three Stair Cases high,
Which signifies his triple property,
I found at last a Chamber, as 'twas said,
But seem'd a Coffin set on the Stairs head.
Not higher then Seav'n, nor larger then three feet;
Only there was nor Seeling, nor a Sheet,
Save that th' ingenious Door did ...Read more of this...

by Browning, Robert
...ake 
Your hand away that's fiddling on my throat, 
And please to know me likewise. Who am I? 
Why, one, sir, who is lodging with a friend 
Three streets off--he's a certain . . . how d'ye call? 
Master--a ...Cosimo of the Medici, 
I' the house that caps the corner. Boh! you were best! 
Remember and tell me, the day you're hanged, 
How you affected such a gullet's-gripe! 
But you, sir, it concerns you that your knaves 
Pick up a manner nor discr...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...ay the country tempts me to go strolling; 
The little village urchins, book in hand,
Envy me, at the schoolmaster's (my lodging), 
As a big schoolboy sneaking a day off.
The air is pure, the sky smiles; there's a constant 
Soft noise of children spelling things aloud.
The waters flow; a linnet flies; and I say: "Thank you! 
Thank you, Almighty God!"--So, then, I live:
Peacefully, hour by hour, with little fuss, I shed 
My days, and think of you, my lady fair!
I hear t...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...e swooped down on Menindie 
To run for the President's Cup; 
Oh! that's a sweet township -- a shindy 
To them is board, lodging, and sup. 
Eye-openers they are, and their system 
Is never to suffer defeat; 
It's "win, tie, or wrangle" -- to best 'em 
You must lose 'em, or else it's "dead heat". 

We strolled down the township and found 'em 
At drinking and gaming and play; 
If sorrows they had, why they drowned 'em, 
And betting was soon under way. 
Their horses w...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...er damsels too were gracious to him, 
For she was a great lady. 

And when they reached 
Caerleon, ere they past to lodging, she, 
Taking his hand, `O the strong hand,' she said, 
`See! look at mine! but wilt thou fight for me, 
And win me this fine circlet, Pelleas, 
That I may love thee?' 

Then his helpless heart 
Leapt, and he cried, `Ay! wilt thou if I win?' 
`Ay, that will I,' she answered, and she laughed, 
And straitly nipt the hand, and flung it from her; 
Then g...Read more of this...

by Herbert, George
...t gently spend
Your hony drops: presse not to smell them here:
When they are ripe, their odour will ascend,
And at your lodging with their thanks appeare.

How harsh are thorns to pears! and yet they make
A better hedge, and need lesse reparation.
How smooth are silks compared with a stake,
Or with a stone! yet make no good foundation.

Sometimes thou dost divide thy gifts to man,
Sometimes unite. The Indian nut alone
Is clothing, meat and trencher, drink and ...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...drown away
The dikes that held it; and we know thereby 
That in its rising light there lives a fire 
No devils that are lodging here in Holland 
Shall put out wholly, or much agitate, 
Except in unofficial preparation
They put out first the sun. It’s well enough 
To think of them; wherefore I thank you, sir, 
Alike for your remembrance and attention. 

But there are demons that are longer-lived 
Than doubts that have a brief and evil term
To congregate among the futil...Read more of this...

by Browning, Robert
...for lo, they have fed
Where the long grasses stifle the water within the stream's bed;
And now one after one seeks its lodging, as star follows star
Into eve and the blue far above us,---so blue and so far!

VI.

---Then the tune, for which quails on the cornland will each leave his mate
To fly after the player; then, what makes the crickets elate
Till for boldness they fight one another: and then, what has weight
To set the quick jerboa amusing outside his sand house---...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...ck:
"Aha!" quoth he, "for Christes passion,
This Miller had a sharp conclusion,
Upon this argument of herbergage.* *lodging
Well saide Solomon in his language,
Bring thou not every man into thine house,
For harbouring by night is perilous.
*Well ought a man avised for to be* *a man should take good heed*
Whom that he brought into his privity.
I pray to God to give me sorrow and care
If ever, since I highte* Hodge of Ware, *was called
Heard I a miller better *set a...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...their clients.

27. St Julian: The patron saint of hospitality, celebrated for
supplying his votaries with good lodging and good cheer.

28. Mew: cage. The place behind Whitehall, where the king's
hawks were caged was called the Mews.

29. Many a luce in stew: many a pike in his fish-pond; in those
Catholic days, when much fish was eaten, no gentleman's
mansion was complete without a "stew".

30. Countour: Probably a steward or accountant i...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...Rome, this is the end:
And in such place as thought them a vantage
For their intent, they took their herbergage.* *lodging

Sojourned have these merchants in that town
A certain time as fell to their pleasance:
And so befell, that th' excellent renown
Of th' emperore's daughter, Dame Constance,
Reported was, with every circumstance,
Unto these Syrian merchants in such wise,
From day to day, as I shall you devise* *relate

This was the common voice of every man
"Our emper...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...ime spent
After *his friendes finding and his rent.* *Attending to his friends,
 and providing for the
 cost of his lodging*
This carpenter had wedded new a wife,
Which that he loved more than his life:
Of eighteen year, I guess, she was of age.
Jealous he was, and held her narr'w in cage,
For she was wild and young, and he was old,
And deemed himself belike* a cuckold. *perhaps
He knew not Cato, for his wit was rude,
That bade a man wed his similitude.
Men...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...r* might they not, *go their way
But for the love of God they him besought
Of herberow* and ease, for their penny. *lodging
The miller said again," If there be any,
Such as it is, yet shall ye have your part.
Mine house is strait, but ye have learned art;
Ye can by arguments maken a place
A mile broad, of twenty foot of space.
Let see now if this place may suffice,
Or make it room with speech, as is your guise.*" *fashion
"Now, Simon," said this John, "by Sain...Read more of this...

by Swift, Jonathan
...id,
Adores her for the timely aid.
Or, should a porter make inquiries
For Chloe, Sylvia, Phillis, Iris;
Be told the lodging, lane, and sign,
The bowers that hold those nymphs divine;
Fair Chloe would perhaps be found
With footmen tippling under ground;
The charming Sylvia beating flax,
Her shoulders marked with bloody tracks;
Bright Phyllis mending ragged smocks:
And radiant Iris in the pox.
These are the goddesses enrolled
In Curll's collection, new and old,
Whose sc...Read more of this...

by Po, Li
...My friend is lodging high in the Eastern Range,
Dearly loving the beauty of valleys and hills.
At green Spring he lies in the empty woods,
And is still asleep when the sun shines on igh.
A pine-tree wind dusts his sleeves and coat;
A peebly stream cleans his heart and ears.
I envy you, who far from strife and talk
Are high-propped on a pillow of blue cloud.Read more of this...

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Book: Shattered Sighs