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Famous Meridian Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Marvell, Andrew
...'d of Milk she fill'd with Love:
But as with riper Years her Virtue grew,
And ev'ry minute adds a Lustre new;
When with meridian height her Beauty shin'd,
And thorough that sparkled her fairer Mind;
When She with Smiles serene and Words discreet
His hidden Soul at ev'ry turn could meet;
Then might y' ha' daily his Affection spy'd,
Doubling that knot which Destiny had ty'd:
While they by sence, not knowing, comprehend
How on each other both their Fates depend.
With her eac...Read more of this...



by Dickinson, Emily
...o suspect
The minor Circumstance

Assisting in the Bright Affair
So intricately done
Then offered as a Butterfly
To the Meridian --

To pack the Bud -- oppose the Worm --
Obtain its right of Dew --
Adjust the Heat -- elude the Wind --
Escape the prowling Bee

Great Nature not to disappoint
Awaiting Her that Day --
To be a Flower, is profound
Responsibility --...Read more of this...

by Donne, John
...Smooth, 'tis a paradise where we would have
Immortal stay, and wrinkled 'tis our grave.
The nose (like to the first meridian) runs
Not 'twixt an East and West, but 'twixt two suns;
It leaves a cheek, a rosy hemisphere,
On either side, and then directs us where
Upon the Islands Fortunate we fall,
(Not faint Canaries, but Ambrosial)
Her swelling lips; to which when we are come,
We anchor there, and think ourselves at home,
For they seem all: there Sirens' songs, and there
W...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...be
A map they could all understand. 

"What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
"They are merely conventional signs! 

"Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
But we've got our brave Captain to thank"
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best--
A perfect and absolute blank!" 

This was charming, no doubt: but they shortly found out
Tha...Read more of this...

by Bronte, Charlotte
...ch my mental wreck have made; 
Of God alone, and self-reliance, 
I ask for solace­hope for aid.

Morn comes­and ere meridian glory
O'er these, my natal woods, shall smile, 
Both lonely wood and mansion hoary 
I'll leave behind, full many a mile....Read more of this...



by Thomson, James
...,
Awakes the rival'd nightingale. 

Thine is the balmy breath of morn,
Just as the dew-bent rose is born;
And while meridian fervours beat,
Thine is the woodland dumb retreat;
But chief, when evening scenes decay,
And the faint landskip swims away,
Thine is the doubtful soft decline,
And that best hour of musing thine. 

Descending angels bless thy train,
The virtues of the sage, and swain;
Plain Innocence in white array'd,
Before thee lifts her fearless head:
Religio...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...In the blest silence of the Primal Spheres. 

 - But let us to the greater woes descend. 
 The stars from their meridian fall, that rose 
 When first these hells we entered. Long to stay 
 Our right of path allows not." 
 While
 he spake 
 We crossed the circle to the bank beyond, 
 And found a hot spring boiling, and a way, 
 Dark, narrow, and steep, that down beside it goes, 
 By which we clambered. Purple-black the pond 
 Beneath it, widening to a marsh...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...ike Lavinia or Jo

With double spreads

And a glossy colour photo

Instead I’m stuck in a bus queue at Morden

London’s meridian point of zero imagination

Actually it’s a bit like ACUMEN with the Oxleys

Boasting about their 150,000 annual submissions-

If what they print’s the best God help the rest...)

At least my Christmas post had - instead of a card

From Jeremy Reed - his ELEGY FOR DAVID GASCOYNE -

The best poem I’ve had by post in forty years

And Jeremy...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...leasant, his grieved look he fixes sad; 
Sometimes towards Heaven, and the full-blazing sun, 
Which now sat high in his meridian tower: 
Then, much revolving, thus in sighs began. 
O thou, that, with surpassing glory crowned, 
Lookest from thy sole dominion like the God 
Of this new world; at whose sight all the stars 
Hide their diminished heads; to thee I call, 
But with no friendly voice, and add thy name, 
Of Sun! to tell thee how I hate thy beams, 
That bring to my r...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...
This spacious ground, in yonder shady bower 
To rest; and what the garden choicest bears 
To sit and taste, till this meridian heat 
Be over, and the sun more cool decline. 
Whom thus the angelick Virtue answered mild. 
Adam, I therefore came; nor art thou such 
Created, or such place hast here to dwell, 
As may not oft invite, though Spirits of Heaven, 
To visit thee; lead on then where thy bower 
O'ershades; for these mid-hours, till evening rise, 
I have at will....Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...al si rinacque
 subitamente là onde l'avelse.



Purgatorio: Canto II

 Già era 'l sole a l'orizzonte giunto
lo cui meridian cerchio coverchia
Ierusalèm col suo più alto punto;
 e la notte, che opposita a lui cerchia,
uscia di Gange fuor con le Bilance,
che le caggion di man quando soverchia;
 sì che le bianche e le vermiglie guance,
là dov'i' era, de la bella Aurora
per troppa etate divenivan rance.
 Noi eravam lunghesso mare ancora,
come gente che pensa a suo cammin...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Mary Darby
...
When he may wave his golden wing,
From Night's detested gloom to spring, 
And with the Sun's advancement fly, 
In full meridian blaze to die: 
Yet shall the chirping FINCH decay, 
Upon the hedgerow's wither'd spray, 
Ere the first beam of light is found, 
And drop unnotic'd to the ground. 
So I alas! shall never see 
The dawn of hope awake for me, 
Still as I turn, new storms appear, 
And darker lours this mental sphere. 
Ah, who shall one short comfort give, 
Or tea...Read more of this...

by Marvell, Andrew
...lk, she filled with love. 
But as with riper years her virtue grew, 
And every minute adds a lustre new, 
When with meridian height her beauty shined, 
And thorough that sparkled her fairer mind, 
When she with smiles serene in words discreet 
His hidden soul at ever turn could meet; 
Then might y'ha' daily his affection spied, 
Doubling that knot which destiny had tied, 
While they by sense, not knowing, comprehend 
How on each other both their fates depend. 
With he...Read more of this...

by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...r
In calm and storm my sails I feather, and where
By freezing cliffs the unransom'd wreckage lies:
Or, strutting on hot meridian banks, surprise
The silence: over plains in the moonlight bare
I chase my shadow, and perch where no bird dare
In treetops torn by fiercest winds of the skies. 
Poor simple birds, foolish birds! then I cry,
Ye pretty pictures of delight, unstir'd
By the only joy of knowing that ye fly;
Ye are not what ye are, but rather, sum'd in a word,
The alp...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...be
 A map they could all understand.

"What's the good of Mercator's North Poles and Equators,
 Tropics, Zones, and Meridian Lines?"
So the Bellman would cry: and the crew would reply
 "They are merely conventional signs!

"Other maps are such shapes, with their islands and capes!
 But we've got our brave Captain to thank
(So the crew would protest) "that he's bought us the best--
 A perfect and absolute blank!"

This was charming, no doubt; but they shortly found out
 Th...Read more of this...

by Finch, Anne Kingsmill
...ike Zeal our Hearts enflame, 
Transporting then our Praise to Seats from whence you came! 

Praise Him, thou Sun in thy Meridian Force; 
Exalt Him, all ye Stars and Light! 
Praise Him, thou Moon in thy revolving Course, 
Praise Him, thou gentler Guide of silent Night, 
Which do's to solemn Praise, and serious Thoughts invite. 

Praise Him, ye humid Vapours, which remain 
Unfrozen by the sharper Air; 
Praise Him, as you return in Show'rs again, 
To bless the Earth and make...Read more of this...

by Warton, Thomas
...ed fair.
When azure noontide cheers the daedal globe,
And the blest regent of the golden day
Rejoices in his bright meridian tower,
How oft my wishes ask the night's return,
That best befriends the melancholy mind!
Hail, sacred Night! thou too shalt share my song!
Sister of ebon-scepter´d Hecate, hail!
Whether in congregated clouds thou wrapp'st
Thy viewless chariot, or with silver crown
Thy beaming head encirclest, ever hail!
What though beneath thy gloom the sorceress t...Read more of this...

by Yeats, William Butler
...and play,
Ah, sweet to me now were even bald Conan's slanderous tongue!

'Like me were some galley forsaken far off in Meridian isle,
Remembering its long-oared companions, sails turning to threadbare rags;
No more to crawl on the seas with long oars mile after mile,
But to be amid shooting of flies and flowering of rushes and flags.'

Their motionless eyeballs of spirits grown mild with mysterious thought,
Watched her those seamless faces from the valley's glimmering gi...Read more of this...

by Poe, Edgar Allan
...h is Hope), 
And are far up in Heaven- the stars I kneel to 
In the sad, silent watches of my night; 
While even in the meridian glare of day 
I see them still- two sweetly scintillant 
Venuses, unextinguished by the sun!...Read more of this...

by Tzara, Tristan
...
here the share of our caresses
dead and departed with the waves

gives itself up to the judgment of time
parted by the meridian of hairs
non strikes in our hands
the spices of human pleasures...Read more of this...

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things