Famous Lost Hope Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Sonnet XLIII: The Unhappy Exile

by Charlotte Turner Smith
 The unhappy exile, whom his fates confine
To the bleak coast of some unfriendly isle,
Cold, barren, desart, where no harvests smile,
But thirst and hunger on the rocks repine;
When, from some promontory's fearful brow,
Sun after sun he hopeless sees decline
In the broad shipless sea—perhaps may know
Such heartless pain, such blank despair as mine;
And, if a flattering cloud appears to show
The fancied...Read more of this...

The fruit of certitude he cannot pluck,

by Omar Khayyam
The fruit of certitude he cannot pluck,
The path that leads thereto who never struck,
Nor ever shook the bough with strenuous hand;
To-day is lost; hope for to-morrow's luck....Read more of this...

The Fir-Tree and the Brook

by Helen Hunt Jackson
 The Fir-Tree looked on stars, but loved the Brook! 
"O silver-voiced! if thou wouldst wait, 
My love can bravely woo." All smiles forsook 
The brook's white face. "Too late! 
Too late! I go to wed the sea. 
I know not if my love would curse or bless thee. 
I may not, dare not, tarry to caress thee, 
Oh, do...Read more of this...

The Tragic Death of the Rev. A.H. Mackonochie

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Friends of humanity, of high and low degree,
I pray ye all come listen to me;
And truly I will relate to ye,
The tragic fate of the Rev. Alexander Heriot Mackonochie. 

Who was on a visit to the Bishop of Argyle,
For the good of his health, for a short while;
Because for the last three years his memory had been affected,
Which prevented...Read more of this...

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