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Famous Maids Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Brackenridge, Hugh Henry
...e by the song divine 
Thy melancholy waters, and the gales 
O Hebrus! which o'er thy sad surface blow. 
No more the maids round Alpheus' waters stray 
Where he with Arethusas' stream doth mix, 
Or where swift Tiber disembogues his waves 
Into th' Italian sea so long unsung. 
Hither they've wing'd their way, the last, the best 
Of countries where the arts shall rise and grow 
Luxuriant, graceful; and ev'n now we boast 
A Franklin skill'd in deep philosophy, 
A genius p...Read more of this...



by Keats, John
...ve ditties made;
And many, even now, their foreheads shade
With cypress, on a day of sacrifice.
New singing for our maids shalt thou devise,
And pluck the sorrow from our huntsmen's brows.
Tell me, my lady-queen, how to espouse
This wayward brother to his rightful joys!
His eyes are on thee bent, as thou didst poise
His fate most goddess-like. Help me, I pray,
To lure--Endymion, dear brother, say
What ails thee?" He could bear no more, and so
Bent his soul fiercel...Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...and down the path to the meadows;
Old folk and young together, and children mingled among them.
Fairest of all the maids was Evangeline, Benedict's daughter!
Noblest of all the youths was Gabriel, son of the blacksmith!

So passed the morning away. And lo! with a summons sonorous
Sounded the bell from its tower, and over the meadows a drum beat.
Thronged erelong was the church with men. Without, in the churchyard,
Waited the women. They stood by the grave...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...were hollow tramplings up and down 
And muffled voices heard, and shadows past; 
Till high above him, circled with her maids, 
The Lady Lyonors at a window stood, 
Beautiful among lights, and waving to him 
White hands, and courtesy; but when the Prince 
Three times had blown--after long hush--at last-- 
The huge pavilion slowly yielded up, 
Through those black foldings, that which housed therein. 
High on a nightblack horse, in nightblack arms, 
With white breast-bone, ...Read more of this...

by Rossetti, Christina
...MORNING and evening
Maids heard the goblins cry:
"Come buy our orchard fruits,
Come buy, come buy:
Apples and quinces,
Lemons and oranges,
Plump unpecked cherries-
Melons and raspberries,
Bloom-down-cheeked peaches,
Swart-headed mulberries,
Wild free-born cranberries,
Crab-apples, dewberries,
Pine-apples, blackberries,
Apricots, strawberries--
All ripe together
In summer weathe...Read more of this...



by Gibran, Kahlil
...of this vast land, lighted by this beautiful moon; soon you will be the mistress of my palace, and all the servants and maids will obey your commands. 

"Smile, my beloved, like the gold smiles from my father's coffers. 

"My heart refuses to deny you its secret. Twelve months of comfort and travel await us; for a year we will spend my father's gold at the blue lakes of Switzerland, and viewing the edifices of Italy and Egypt, and resting under the Holy Cedars of ...Read more of this...

by Bukowski, Charles
...y to
50 cent cigars. but it's never
there.
and they HIDE their women from you-
their wives, x-wives, daughters, maids, so forth,
because they've read your poems and
figure all you want to do is **** everybody and
everything. which once might have been
true but is no longer quite
true.

and-
he WRITES TOO.
POETRY, of
course. everybody
writes
poetry.

he has plenty of time and a
postoffice box in town
and he drives there 3 or 4 times a day
looking an...Read more of this...

by Chesterton, G K
...>

Seven spears, and the seventh
Was wrought as the faerie blades,
And given to Elf the minstrel
By the monstrous water-maids;

By them that dwell where luridly
Lost waters of the Rhine
Move among roots of nations,
Being sunken for a sign.

Under all graves they murmur,
They murmur and rebel,
Down to the buried kingdoms creep,
And like a lost rain roar and weep
O'er the red heavens of hell.

Thrice drowned was Elf the minstrel,
And washed as dead on sand;
And the thir...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...e: 
He sees not — ne'er shall see — thy face! 
Can he not hear 
The loud Wul-wulleh warn his distant ear? [41] 
Thy handmaids weeping at the gate, 
The Koran-chanters of the hymn of fate, 
The silent slaves with folded arms that wait, 
Sighs in the hall, and shrieks upon the gale, 
Tell him thy tale! 
Thou didst not view thy Selim fall! 
That fearful moment when he left the cave 
Thy heart grew chill: 
He was thy hope — thy joy — thy love — thine all — 
And that last thought ...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...trew
Their bloom in blushes ever new;
Her hair in hyacinthine flow,
When left to roll its folds below,
As midst her handmaids in the hall
She stood superior to them all,
Hath swept the marble where her feet
Gleamed whiter than the mountain sleet
Ere from the cloud that gave it birth
It fell, and caught one stain of earth.
The cygnet nobly walks the water;
So moved on earth Circassia’s daughter,
The loveliest bird of Franguestan!
As rears her crest the ruffled swan,
And sp...Read more of this...

by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...he babbling fountain of his native land.
Before his eyes the vision seems to stand,
Where at its terraced brink the maids appear,
Who fill their deep urns at its waters clear,
And not refuse the help of lover's hand. 
O cruel jest--he cries, as some one flings
The sparkling drops in sport or shew of ire--
O shameless, O contempt of holy things.
But never of their wanton play they tire,
As not athirst they sit beside the springs,
While he must quench in death his l...Read more of this...

by Eluard, Paul
...aces 
Good faces, sure of themselves 
Certain soon to ruin their masters 

II. The women’s role 

As they sing, the maids dash forward 
To tidy up the killing fields 
Well-powdered girls, quickly to their knees 

Their hands -- reaching for the fresh air -- 
Are blue like never before 
What a glorious day! 

Look at their hands, the dead 
Look at their liquid eyes 

This is the toilet of transience 
The final toilet of life 
Stones sink and disappear 
In the vast, primal ...Read more of this...

by Lanier, Sidney
...m, whether born
In hedge or silken bed, shall be a lord:
And queens shall be as thick i' the land as wives,
And all the maids shall maids of honor be:
And high and low shall commune solemnly:
And stars and stones shall have free interview.
But woe is me, 'tis also piteous true
That ere this gracious time shall visit France,
Your graves, Beloved, shall be some centuries old,
And so your children's, and their children's graves
And many generations'.
Ye, O ye
Shall griev...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...ed fate shall know;
     Far o'er its roof the volumed flame
     Clan-Alpine's vengeance shall proclaim,
     While maids and matrons on his name
     Shall call down wretchedness and shame,
          And infamy and woe.'
     Then rose the cry of females, shrill
     As goshawk's whistle on the hill,
     Denouncing misery and ill,
     Mingled with childhood's babbling trill
          Of curses stammered slow;
     Answering with imprecation dread,
     'Sunk b...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...e sweet body of a maiden babe. 
Perchance--who knows?--the purest of thy knights 
May win them for the purest of my maids.' 

She ended, and the cry of a great jousts 
With trumpet-blowings ran on all the ways 
From Camelot in among the faded fields 
To furthest towers; and everywhere the knights 
Armed for a day of glory before the King. 

But on the hither side of that loud morn 
Into the hall staggered, his visage ribbed 
From ear to ear with dogwhip-weals, his...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...herd of boys with clamour bowled 
And stumped the wicket; babies rolled about 
Like tumbled fruit in grass; and men and maids 
Arranged a country dance, and flew through light 
And shadow, while the twangling violin 
Struck up with Soldier-laddie, and overhead 
The broad ambrosial aisles of lofty lime 
Made noise with bees and breeze from end to end. 

Strange was the sight and smacking of the time; 
And long we gazed, but satiated at length 
Came to the ruins. High-a...Read more of this...

by Pope, Alexander
...wn Importance know,
Nor bound thy narrow Views to Things below.
Some secret Truths from Learned Pride conceal'd,
To Maids alone and Children are reveal'd:
What tho' no Credit doubting Wits may give?
The Fair and Innocent shall still believe. 
Know then, unnumbered Spirits round thee fly,
The light Militia of the lower Sky;
These, tho' unseen, are ever on the Wing,
Hang o'er the Box, and hover round the Ring.
Think what an Equipage thou hast in Air,
And view with s...Read more of this...

by Coleridge, Samuel Taylor
...

What loud uproar bursts from that door!
The wedding-guests are there:
But in the garden-bower the bride
And bride-maids singing are:
And hark the little vesper bell,
Which biddeth me to prayer!

O Wedding-Guest! this soul hath been
Alone on a wide wide sea:
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seem'ed there to be.

O sweeter than the marriage-feast,
'Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the kirk
With a goodly company!--

To walk together to t...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...ee
   Such quantities of sand.
"If this were only cleared away,"
   They said, "it would be grand!"

"If seven maids with seven mops
   Swept it for half a year,
Do you suppose," the Walrus said,
   "That they could get it clear?"
"I doubt it," said the Carpenter,
   And shed a bitter tear.

"O Oysters, come and walk with us!"
   The Walrus did beseech.
"A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
   Along the briny beach;
We cannot do with more than four,
...Read more of this...

by Swift, Jonathan
...town,
To all their boroughs send them down;
You never met a thing so smart!
The courtiers have them all by heart;
Those maids of honour (who can read),
Are taught to use them for their creed.
The rev'rend author's good intention
Has been rewarded with a pension.
He does an honour to his gown,
By bravely running priestcraft down:
He shows, as sure as God's in Gloucester,
That Moses was a grand imposter;
That all his miracles were cheats,
Performed as jugglers do their ...Read more of this...

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