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Famous Mused Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...1
AS I sat alone, by blue Ontario’s shore, 
As I mused of these mighty days, and of peace return’d, and the dead that return no
 more, 
A Phantom, gigantic, superb, with stern visage, accosted me; 
Chant me the poem, it said, that comes from the soul of America—chant me
 the
 carol of victory; 
And strike up the marches of Libertad—marches more powerful yet;
And sing me before you go, the song of the throe...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt



...ead bent solemn.
"What is it now," said I, -- "another woman?"
That made him sorry for me, and he smiled.
"No, Ben," he mused; "it's Nothing. It's all Nothing.
We come, we go; and when we're done, we're done."
Spiders and flies -- we're mostly one or t'other -- 
We come, we go; and when we're done, we're done;
"By God, you sing that song as if you knew it!"
Said I, by way of cheering him; "what ails ye?"
"I think I must have come down here to think,"
Says he to that, and pull...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...ut they thought of home
(For hearts are faithful though the feet may roam) .
Brave Hamilton, all eager for the strife, 
Mused o'er that two-fold mystery-death and life; 
'And when I die, ' quoth he, ' mine be the part
To fall upon the field, a bullet in my heart.'

XII.

At break of dawn the scouts crept in to say
The foe was camped a rifle shot away.
The baying of a dog, an infant's cry
Pierced through the air; sleep fled from every eye.
To horse! to arms! the dead demand th...Read more of this...
by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler
...ank to their welfare.
Wiping the foam from his lip, he solemnly bowed and departed,
While in silence the others sat and mused by the fireside,
Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its corner.
Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention the old men
Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful manoeuver,
Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was made in the king-row
Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's embrasure,
Sat the lovers, and whispered...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...'s place. 
 Highness, you are a fairy bright, whose hand 
 For sceptre vile gave up your proper wand." 
 Fair Mahaud mused—then said, "Be silent now; 
 You seem to watch me; little 'tis I know, 
 Only that from Bohemia Joss doth come, 
 And that in Poland Zeno hath his home. 
 But you amuse me; I am rich, you poor— 
 What boon shall I confer and make secure? 
 What gift? ask of me, poets, what you will 
 And I will grant it—promise to fulfil." 
 "A kiss," said Joss...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor



...he.
For thes wer forne the freest, that folyghed alle the sele
Exellently of alle thyse other, vnder heuenryche
that mused;
And alle thay were biwyled
With wymmen that thay vsed.
Thaygh I be now bigyled,
Me think me burde be excused.
"Bot your gordel," quoth Gawayn, "God yow foryghelde!
That wyl I welde wyth guod wylle, not for the wynne golde,
Ne the saynt, ne the sylk, ne the syde pendaundes,
For wele ne for worchyp, ne for the wlonk werkkez,
Bot in syngne of my...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...o age: 
When history's pen its praise or blame supplies, 
And lies like truth, and still most truly lies. 
He wandering mused, and as the moonbeam shone 
Through the dim lattice o'er the floor of stone, 
And the high fretted roof, and saints, that there 
O'er Gothic windows knelt in pictured prayer, 
Reflected in fantastic figures grew, 
Like life, but not like mortal life, to view; 
His bristling locks of sable, brow of gloom, 
And the wide waving of his shaken plume, 
Glanc...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)
...rs thus marshalled, for the rest 
Monck in his shirt against the Dutch is pressed. 
Often, dear Painter, have I sat and mused 
Why he should still be 'n all adventures used, 
If they for nothing ill, like ashen wood, 
Or think him, like Herb John for nothing good; 
Whether his valour they so much admire, 
Or that for cowardice they all retire, 
As heaven in storms, they call in gusts of state 
On Monck and Parliament, yet both do hate. 
All causes sure concur, but most they t...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew
...e, 
Inclinable now grown to touch or taste, 
Solicited her longing eye; yet first 
Pausing a while, thus to herself she mused. 
Great are thy virtues, doubtless, best of fruits, 
Though kept from man, and worthy to be admired; 
Whose taste, too long forborn, at first assay 
Gave elocution to the mute, and taught 
The tongue not made for speech to speak thy praise: 
Thy praise he also, who forbids thy use, 
Conceals not from us, naming thee the tree 
Of knowledge, knowledge bo...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...I lost him, but so found as well I saw
He could not lose himself, but went about
His Father's business. What he meant I mused—
Since understand; much more his absence now 
Thus long to some great purpose he obscures.
But I to wait with patience am inured;
My heart hath been a storehouse long of things
And sayings laid up, pretending strange events."
 Thus Mary, pondering oft, and oft to mind
Recalling what remarkably had passed
Since first her Salutation heard, with thoughts
...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...gainst the blowing sky, Writhing 
and glittering, pulling at the line.
"The hook is fast, I might just let him die," He mused. "But 
that would jar against your fine
Sense of true sportsmanship, I know it would," Cried Eunice. "Let 
me do it." Swift and light
She ran towards him. "It is so long 
now Since I have felt a bite,
I lost all heart for everything." She stood,
Supple and strong, beside him, and her blood
Tingled her lissom body to a glow.

XII
She quickly seized the ...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy
...ure, when round me the sheep
Fed in silence---above, the one eagle wheeled slow as in sleep;
And I lay in my hollow and mused on the world that might lie
'Neath his ken, though I saw but the strip 'twixt the hill and the sky:
And I laughed---``Since my days are ordained to be passed with my flocks,
``Let me people at least, with my fancies, the plains and the rocks,
``Dream the life I am never to mix with, and image the show
``Of mankind as they live in those fashions I hardl...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert
...in my eyes
Awoke me.' 

`That was then your dream,' she said,
`Not sad, but sweet.' 

`So sweet, I lay,' said he,
`And mused upon it, drifting up the stream
In fancy, till I slept again, and pieced
The broken vision; for I dream'd that still
The motion of the great deep bore me on,
And that the woman walk'd upon the brink:
I wonder'd at her strength, and ask'd her of it:
"It came," she said, "by working in the mines:"
O then to ask her of my shares, I thought;
And ask'd; but...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
..., as cattle do,
And looked at me vaguely, as drinking cattle do,
And flickered his two-forked tongue from his lips, and mused a moment,
And stooped and drank a little more,
Being earth-brown, earth-golden from the burning bowels of the earth
On the day of Sicilian July, with Etna smoking.
The voice of my education said to me
He must be killed,
For in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent, the gold are venomous.

And voices in me said, If you were a man
You would take a ...Read more of this...
by Lawrence, D. H.
...Crispin willed, 
551 Disguised pronunciamento, summary, 
552 Autumn's compendium, strident in itself 
553 But muted, mused, and perfectly revolved 
554 In those portentous accents, syllables, 
555 And sounds of music coming to accord 
556 Upon his law, like their inherent sphere, 
557 Seraphic proclamations of the pure 
558 Delivered with a deluging onwardness. 
559 Or if the music sticks, if the anecdote 
560 Is false, if Crispin is a profitless 
561 Philosopher, ...Read more of this...
by Stevens, Wallace
...Died the sound of royal cheer; 165 
And they cross'd themselves for fear, 
All the knights at Camelot: 
But Lancelot mused a little space; 
He said, 'She has a lovely face; 
God in His mercy lend her grace, 170 
The Lady of Shalott.' ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...ke unto Constance
As possible is a creature to be:
This Alla had the face in remembrance
Of Dame Constance, and thereon mused he,
If that the childe's mother *were aught she* *could be she*
That was his wife; and privily he sight,* *sighed
And sped him from the table *that he might.* *as fast as he could*

"Parfay,"* thought he, "phantom** is in mine head. *by my faith
I ought to deem, of skilful judgement, **a fantasy
That in the salte sea my wife is dead."
And afterward he ...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...his common sewer of all his realm, 
He craved a fair permission to depart, 
And there defend his marches; and the King 
Mused for a little on his plea, but, last, 
Allowing it, the Prince and Enid rode, 
And fifty knights rode with them, to the shores 
Of Severn, and they past to their own land; 
Where, thinking, that if ever yet was wife 
True to her lord, mine shall be so to me, 
He compassed her with sweet observances 
And worship, never leaving her, and grew 
Forgetful of...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...leave, for it was nearly noon: 
I pored upon her letter which I held, 
And on the little clause 'take not his life:' 
I mused on that wild morning in the woods, 
And on the 'Follow, follow, thou shalt win:' 
I thought on all the wrathful king had said, 
And how the strange betrothment was to end: 
Then I remembered that burnt sorcerer's curse 
That one should fight with shadows and should fall; 
And like a flash the weird affection came: 
King, camp and college turned to holl...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...ant's head: 
He looks to her, and rushes on 
Where life is lost, or freedom won. 

XVI. 

Still by the shore Alp mutely mused, 
And woo'd the freshness night diffused. 
There shrinks no ebb in that tideless sea, [3] 
Which changeless rolls eternally; 
So that wildest of waves, in their angriest mood, 
Scarce break on the bounds of the land for a rood; 
And the powerless moon beholds them flow, 
Heedless if she come or go: 
Calm or high, in main or bay, 
On their course she ha...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things