Famous Midst Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee

by Henry Van Dyke
 Joyful, joyful we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love, 
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, hail Thee as the sun above. 
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness, drive the dark of doubt away; 
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day. 

All Thy works with joy surround Thee, earth and heav'n reflect Thy...Read more of this...

The Grown-Up

by Rainer Maria Rilke
 All this stood upon her and was the world
and stood upon her with all its fear and grace
as trees stand, growing straight up, imageless
yet wholly image, like the Ark of God,
and solemn, as if imposed upon a race.

As she endured it all: bore up under
the swift-as-flight, the fleeting, the far-gone,
the inconceivably vast, the still-to-learn,
serenely as a woman carrying water
moves...Read more of this...

The Yellow Violet

by William Cullen Bryant
 When beechen buds begin to swell, 
And woods the blue-bird's warble know, 
The yellow violet's modest bell 
Peeps from last-year's leaves below.

Ere russet fields their green resume, 
Sweet flower, I love, in forest bare, 
To meet thee, when thy faint perfume 
Alone is in the virgin air.

Of all her train, the hands of Spring 
First plant thee in the...Read more of this...

On The Death Of A Favourite Cat Drowned In A Tub Of Gold Fishes

by Thomas Gray
 'Twas on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art had dyed
The azure flowers that blow,
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclined,
Gazed on the lake below.

Her conscious tail her joy declared;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
She saw; and purred applause.

Still had she...Read more of this...

Here And Now

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 Here, in the heart of the world, 
Here, in the noise and the din, 
Here, where our spirits were hurled
To battle with sorrow and sin, 
This is the place and the spot
For knowledge of infinite things; 
This is the kingdom where Thought
Can conquer the prowess of kings.

Wait for no heavenly life, 
Seek for no temple alone; 
Here, in the...Read more of this...

A Ballad of Hell

by John Davidson
 'A letter from my love to-day!
Oh, unexpected, dear appeal!'
She struck a happy tear away,
And broke the crimson seal.

'My love, there is no help on earth,
No help in heaven; the dead-man's bell
Must toll our wedding; our first hearth
Must be the well-paved floor of hell.'

The colour died from out her face,
Her eyes like ghostly candles shone;
She cast dread looks about the...Read more of this...

To Julia De Burgos

by Julia de Burgos
Already the people murmur that I am your enemy
because they say that in verse I give the world your me.

They lie, Julia de Burgos. They lie, Julia de Burgos.
Who rises in my verses is not your voice. It is my voice
because you are the dressing and the essence is me;
and the most profound abyss is spread between us.

You are the...Read more of this...

Hymn to Proserpine (After the Proclamation of the Christian

by Algernon Charles Swinburne
 Vicisti, Galilæe
I have lived long enough, having seen one thing, that love hath an end;
Goddess and maiden and queen, be near me now and befriend.
Thou art more than the day or the morrow, the seasons that laugh or that weep;
For these give joy and sorrow; but thou, Proserpina, sleep.
Sweet is the treading of wine, and sweet the feet of...Read more of this...

In a Garden

by Amy Lowell
 Gushing from the mouths of stone men
To spread at ease under the sky
In granite-lipped basins,
Where iris dabble their feet
And rustle to a passing wind,
The water fills the garden with its rushing,
In the midst of the quiet of close-clipped lawns.
Damp smell the ferns in tunnels of stone,
Where trickle and plash the fountains,
Marble fountains, yellowed with much water.
Splashing down moss-tarnished steps
It...Read more of this...

Lincoln

by John Gould Fletcher
 I 

Like a gaunt, scraggly pine 
Which lifts its head above the mournful sandhills; 
And patiently, through dull years of bitter silence, 
Untended and uncared for, starts to grow. 

Ungainly, labouring, huge, 
The wind of the north has twisted and gnarled its branches; 
Yet in the heat of midsummer days, when thunderclouds ring the horizon, 
A nation of men...Read more of this...

Sonnet CXCIII

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CXCIII. Cantai, or piango; e non men di dolcezza. THOUGH IN THE MIDST OF PAIN, HE DEEMS HIMSELF THE HAPPIEST OF MEN.  I sang, who now lament; nor less delightThan in my song I found, in tears I find;For on the cause and not effect inclined,My senses still desire to scale...Read more of this...

Symphonic Studies (After Schumann)

by Emma Lazarus
 Prelude 

Blue storm-clouds in hot heavens of mid-July 
Hung heavy, brooding over land and sea: 
Our hearts, a-tremble, throbbed in harmony 
With the wild, restless tone of air and sky. 
Shall we not call im Prospero who held 
In his enchanted hands the fateful key 
Of that tempestuous hour's mystery, 
And with controlling wand our spirits spelled, 
With him...Read more of this...

Epistle To My Brother George

by John Keats
 Full many a dreary hour have I past,
My brain bewildered, and my mind o'ercast
With heaviness; in seasons when I've thought
No spherey strains by me could e'er be caught
From the blue dome, though I to dimness gaze
On the far depth where sheeted lightning plays;
Or, on the wavy grass outstretched supinely,
Pry 'mong the stars, to strive to think divinely:
That I should...Read more of this...

Behold us re-united in the midst of lovers; behold us

by Omar Khayyam
Behold us re-united in the midst of lovers; behold us
freed from the pain which time inflicts; having emptied
the cup of His love, behold us all free, all tranquil, all
o'ercome with wine....Read more of this...

The Lover's Wish

by Victor Hugo
 ("Si j'étais la feuille.") 
 
 {XXII., September, 1828.} 


 Oh! were I the leaf that the wind of the West, 
 His course through the forest uncaring; 
 To sleep on the gale or the wave's placid breast 
 In a pendulous cradle is bearing. 
 
 All fresh with the morn's balmy kiss would I haste, 
...Read more of this...

The Four Zoas (excerpt)

by William Blake
 'What is the price of Experience? do men buy it for a song? 
Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price
Of all that a man hath, his house, his wife, his children.
Wisdom is sold in the desolate market where none come to buy,
And in the wither'd field where the farmer plows for...Read more of this...

The Morning Of Life

by Victor Hugo
 ("Le voile du matin.") 
 
 {Bk. V. viii., April, 1822.} 


 The mist of the morning is torn by the peaks, 
 Old towers gleam white in the ray, 
 And already the glory so joyously seeks 
 The lark that's saluting the day. 
 
 Then smile away, man, at the heavens so fair, 
 Though, were...Read more of this...

Yes, we, seated in the midst of this treasure in ruins,

by Omar Khayyam
Yes, we, seated in the midst of this treasure in ruins,
surrounded by wine and dancers, have put in pawn [in
order to procure them] all that we possess: soul, heart,
goods—everything but the cup. We are thus freed from
hope of pardon and fear of punishment. We are beyond
the air, the earth, and fire and water....Read more of this...

On The Morning Of Christ's Nativity

by John Milton
 I

This is the Month, and this the happy morn
Wherin the Son of Heav'ns eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

II

That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,
Wherwith he...Read more of this...

The Bard

by Thomas Gray
 Pindaric Ode

"Ruin seize thee, ruthless King!
Confusion on thy banners wait!
Tho' fanned by Conquest's crimson wing,
They mock the air with idle state.
Helm, nor hauberk's twisted mail,
Nor e'en thy virtues, Tyrant, shall avail
To save thy secret soul from nightly fears,
From Cambria's curse, from Cambria's tears!"
Such were the sounds that o'er the crested pride
Of the first Edward scattered wild dismay,
As down the...Read more of this...

In the midst of this whirlpool of the world, hasten to

by Omar Khayyam
In the midst of this whirlpool of the world, hasten to
gather some fruit. Seat thyself upon the throne of gaiety
and bring the cup to thy lips. God is indifferent both
to creed and sin; enjoy then here below, what pleases
thee....Read more of this...

The Wizard Way

by Aleister Crowley
 [Dedicated to General J.C.F. Fuller]


Velvet soft the night-star glowed 
Over the untrodden road, 
Through the giant glades of yew 
Where its ray fell light as dew 
Lighting up the shimmering veil 
Maiden pure and aery frail 
That the spiders wove to hide 
Blushes of the sylvan bride 
Earth, that trembled with delight 
At the male caress of Night. 

Velvet...Read more of this...

To Rinaldo

by Mary Darby Robinson
 SOFT is the balmy breath of May, 
When from the op'ning lids of day 
Meek twilight steals; and from its wings 
Translucent pearls of ether flings. 
MILD is the chaste Moon's languid eye, 
When gliding down the dappled sky 
She feebly lifts her spangled bow, 
Around her glitt'ring darts to throw.­ 
SWEET are the aromatic bowers, 
When Night sends...Read more of this...

Centenarian's Story The

by Walt Whitman
 GIVE me your hand, old Revolutionary; 
The hill-top is nigh—but a few steps, (make room, gentlemen;) 
Up the path you have follow’d me well, spite of your hundred and extra years; 
You can walk, old man, though your eyes are almost done; 
Your faculties serve you, and presently I must have them serve me.

Rest, while I tell what the...Read more of this...

One Bumper at Parting

by Thomas Moore
 One bumper at parting! -- though many 
Have circled the board since we met, 
The fullest, the saddest of any 
Remains to be crown'd by us yet. 
The sweetness that pleasure hath in it 
Is always so slow to come forth, 
That seldom, alas, till the minute 
It dies, do we know half its worth. 
But come -- may...Read more of this...

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