Famous Moor Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Joy Of Being Poor

by Robert William Service
 I

Let others sing of gold and gear, the joy of being rich;
But oh, the days when I was poor, a vagrant in a ditch!
When every dawn was like a gem, so radiant and rare,
And I had but a single coat, and not a single care;
When I would feast right royally on bacon, bread and beer,
And dig into a stack...Read more of this...

216. Song—Duncan Davison

by Robert Burns
 THERE was a lass, they ca’d her Meg,
 And she held o’er the moors to spin;
There was a lad that follow’d her,
 They ca’d him Duncan Davison.
The moor was dreigh, and Meg was skeigh,
 Her favour Duncan could na win;
For wi’ the rock she wad him knock,
 And aye she shook the temper-pin.


As o’er the moor they lightly foor,
...Read more of this...

She Hears The Storm

by Thomas Hardy
 There was a time in former years-- 
While my roof-tree was his-- 
When I should have been distressed by fears 
At such a night as this!

I should have murmured anxiously, 
'The prickling rain strikes cold; 
His road is bare of hedge or tree, 
And he is getting old.'

But now the fitful chimney-roar, 
The drone of Thorncombe trees, 
The Froom...Read more of this...

The Death of the Old Mendicant

by William Topaz McGonagall
 There was a rich old gentleman
Lived on a lonely moor in Switzerland,
And he was very hard to the wandering poor,
'Tis said he never lodged nor served them at his door. 

'Twas on a stormy night, and Boreas blew a bitter blast,
And the snowflakes they fell thick and fast,
When a poor old mendicant, tired and footsore,
Who had travelled that day...Read more of this...

Meditations In Time Of Civil War

by William Butler Yeats
 I. Ancestral Houses

Surely among a rich man's flowering lawns,
Amid the rustle of his planted hills,
Life overflows without ambitious pains;
And rains down life until the basin spills,
And mounts more dizzy high the more it rains
As though to choose whatever shape it wills
And never stoop to a mechanical
Or servile shape, at others' beck and call.

Mere dreams, mere dreams! Yet Homer had...Read more of this...

Resolution And Independence

by William Wordsworth
 I 

There was a roaring in the wind all night; 
The rain came heavily and fell in floods; 
But now the sun is rising calm and bright; 
The birds are singing in the distant woods; 
Over his own sweet voice the Stock-dove broods; 
The Jay makes answer as the Magpie chatters; 
And all the air is filled with pleasant...Read more of this...

Northern Farmer: New Style

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 Dosn't thou 'ear my 'erse's legs, as they canters awaäy?
Proputty, proputty, proputty--that's what I 'ears 'em saäy.
Proputty, proputty, proputty--Sam, thou's an ass for thy paaïns:
Theer's moor sense i' one o' 'is legs, nor in all thy braaïns.
Woä--theer's a craw to pluck wi' tha, Sam; yon 's parson's 'ouse--
Dosn't thou knaw that a man mun be eäther a man or...Read more of this...

Lovers Gifts VIII: There Is Room for You

by Rabindranath Tagore
 There is room for you. You are alone with your few sheaves of rice.
My boat is crowded, it is heavily laden, but how can I turn you
away? Your young body is slim and swaying; there is a twinkling
smile in the edge of your eyes, and your robe is coloured like the
rain cloud.
The travellers will land for different roads and...Read more of this...

158. Song—The Bonie Moor-hen

by Robert Burns
 THE HEATHER was blooming, the meadows were mawn,
Our lads gaed a-hunting ae day at the dawn,
O’er moors and o’er mosses and mony a glen,
At length they discover’d a bonie moor-hen.


Chorus.—I rede you, beware at the hunting, young men,
I rede you, beware at the hunting, young men;
Take some on the wing, and some as they spring,
But cannily steal on a...Read more of this...

The Exeter Road

by Amy Lowell
 Panels of claret and blue which shine
Under the moon like lees of wine.
A coronet done in a golden scroll,
And wheels which blunder and creak as they roll
Through the muddy ruts of a moorland track.
They daren't look back!
They are whipping and cursing the horses. Lord!
What brutes men are when they think they're scored.
Behind, my bay gelding gallops with me,
In a...Read more of this...

415. Song—The last time I cam o'er the Moor

by Robert Burns
 THE LAST time I came o’er the moor,
 And left Maria’s dwelling,
What throes, what tortures passing cure,
 Were in my bosom swelling:
Condemn’d to see my rival’s reign,
 While I in secret languish;
To feel a fire in every vein,
 Yet dare not speak my anguish.


Love’s veriest wretch, despairing, I
 Fain, fain, my crime would cover;
Th’ unweeting groan, the bursting sigh,
...Read more of this...

The Indian Upon God

by William Butler Yeats
 I passed along the water's edge below the humid trees,
My spirit rocked in evening light, the rushes round my knees,
My spirit rocked in sleep and sighs; and saw the moor-fowl pace
All dripping on a grassy slope, and saw them cease to chase
Each other round in circles, and heard the eldest speak:
Who holds the world between His bill and made...Read more of this...

Speak Of The North! A Lonely Moor

by Charlotte Bronte
 Speak of the North! A lonely moor
Silent and dark and tractless swells,
The waves of some wild streamlet pour
Hurriedly through its ferny dells.

Profoundly still the twilight air,
Lifeless the landscape; so we deem
Till like a phantom gliding near
A stag bends down to drink the stream.

And far away a mountain zone,
A cold, white waste of snow-drifts lies,
And one star, large and soft...Read more of this...

My Ladys Grave

by Emily Brontë
 THE linnet in the rocky dells, 
The moor-lark in the air, 
The bee among the heather bells 
That hide my lady fair: 

The wild deer browse above her breast; 
The wild birds raise their brood; 
And they, her smiles of love caress'd, 
Have left her solitude! 

I ween that when the grave's dark wall 
Did first her form retain,...Read more of this...

2. Song—O Tibbie I hae seen the day

by Robert Burns
 Chor.—O Tibbie, I hae seen the day,
 Ye wadna been sae shy;
For laik o’ gear ye lightly me,
 But, trowth, I care na by.


YESTREEN I met you on the moor,
Ye spak na, but gaed by like stour;
Ye geck at me because I’m poor,
 But fient a hair care I.
 O Tibbie, I hae seen the day, &c.


When coming hame...Read more of this...

Easter 1916

by William Butler Yeats
 I have met them at close of day
Coming with vivid faces
From counter or desk among grey
Eighteenth-century houses.
I have passed with a nod of the head
Or polite meaningless words,
Or have lingered awhile and said
Polite meaningless words,
And thought before I had done
Of a mocking tale or a gibe
To please a companion
Around the fire at the club,
Being certain that they and I
But...Read more of this...

Wild Nights -- Wild Nights!

by Emily Dickinson
Wild Nights -- Wild Nights!
Were I with thee
Wild Nights should be
Our luxury!

Futile -- the Winds --
To a Heart in port --
Done with the Compass --
Done with the Chart!

Rowing in Eden --
Ah, the Sea!
Might I but moor -- Tonight --
In Thee!...Read more of this...

I never saw a Moor --

by Emily Dickinson
 I never saw a Moor --
I never saw the Sea --
Yet know I how the Heather looks
And what a Billow be.

I never spoke with God
Nor visited in Heaven --
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the Checks were given --...Read more of this...

The House Of Clouds

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 I would build a cloudy House
For my thoughts to live in;
When for earth too fancy-loose
And too low for Heaven!
Hush! I talk my dream aloud---
I build it bright to see,---
I build it on the moonlit cloud,
To which I looked with thee.

Cloud-walls of the morning's grey,
Faced with amber column,---
Crowned with crimson cupola
From a sunset solemn!
May mists, for the casements, fetch,
Pale and...Read more of this...

The Book of Urizen: Chapter VIII

by William Blake
 1. Urizen explor'd his dens
Mountain, moor, & wilderness,
With a globe of fire lighting his journey
A fearful journey, annoy'd
By cruel enormities: forms 
Of life on his forsaken mountains 

2. And his world teemd vast enormities
Frightning; faithless; fawning
Portions of life; similitudes
Of a foot, or a hand, or a head 
Or a heart, or an eye, they swam mischevous
Dread terrors! delighting in...Read more of this...

Song

by Emily Brontë
 The linnet in the rocky dells,
The moor - lark in the air,
The bee among the heather - bells
That hide my lady fair: 

The wild deer browse above her breast;
The wild birds raise their brood;
And they, her smiles of love caressed,
Have left their solitude! 

I ween, that when the grave's dark wall
Did first her form retain,
They thought their hearts could...Read more of this...

The Battle of Culloden

by William Topaz McGonagall
 'Twas in the year of 1746, and in April the 14th day,
That Prince Charles Stuart and his army marched on without delay,
And on the 14th of April they encamped on Culloden Moor,
But the army felt hungry, and no food could they procure. 

And the calls of hunger could not brook delay,
So they resolved to have food, come what may;
They,...Read more of this...

The Fair Maid of Perths House

by William Topaz McGonagall
 All ye good people, afar and near,
To my request pray lend an ear;
I advise you all without delay to go
And see the Fair Maid's House - it is a rare show. 

Some of the chairs there are very grand,
They have been cut and carved by a skilful hand;
And kings, perchance, if fhe truth were told,
Have sat on them in...Read more of this...

I never saw a moor

by Emily Dickinson
I never saw a moor,
I never saw the sea;
Yet know I how the heather looks,
And what a wave must be.

I never spoke with God,
Nor visited in heaven;
Yet certain am I of the spot
As if the chart were given....Read more of this...

Lament For Culloden

by Robert Burns
 The lovely lass o' Inverness,
Nae joy nor pleasure can she see;
For e'en and morn she cries, "Alas!"
And ay the saut tear blins her ee:
Drumossie moor—Drumossie day— 
A waefu' day it was to me!
For there I lost my father dear,
My father dear, and brethren three.

Their winding-sheet the bluidy clay,
Their graves are growing green to see:
And by them lies the dearest...Read more of this...

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