Famous Overshadowing Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Fairy Tale

...ettled friendships, with a name
Which honors all who bear it, and the power
Of making words obedient. This is much;
But overshadowing all is still the curse,
That never shall I be fulfilled by love!
Along the parching highroad of the world
No other soul shall bear mine company.
Always shall I be teased with semblances,
With cruel impostures, which I trust awhile
Then dash to pieces, as a careless boy
Flings a kaleidoscope, which shattering
Strews all the ground about with col...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy


Beowulf (Modern English)

...far from here, measured out by miles,
that that lake stands, over it hangs thick-barked trees,
fast with their roots, overshadowing the water.
There one can see every night a malevolent wonder:
fire in the water. None of the sons of men who live,
though wise, can sound out that lake bottom.
Although the heath-stepper is harried by hounds,
the stag with strong horns may seek a forested security,
fearfully put to flight—he would sooner risk his life
on the shore, befor...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Epipsychidion (excerpt)

...ight lives with baser prey,
Which point to Heaven and cannot pass away:
One hope within two wills, one will beneath
Two overshadowing minds, one life, one death,
One Heaven, one Hell, one immortality,
And one annihilation. Woe is me!
The winged words on which my soul would pierce
Into the height of Love's rare Universe,
Are chains of lead around its flight of fire--
I pant, I sink, I tremble, I expire!...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Hymn 60

...s song,
May the same Spirit tune our voice!

[The Highest saw her low estate,
And mighty things his hand hath done:
His overshadowing power and grace
Makes her the mother of his Son.

Let ev'ry nation call her blest,
And endless years prolong her fame;
But God alone must be ador'd:
Holy and reverend is his name.]

To those that fear and trust the Lord,
His mercy stands for ever sure:
From age to age his promise lives,
And the performance is secure.

He spake to Abram and his ...Read more of this...
by Watts, Isaac

In the shadow of a broken house

...meet.

And over that hearthless house aghast 
Rose from the mind's abyss 
Lost stars and ruined, peering moons, 
Worlds overshadowing this, —
Time's stony palace crumbled down 
Before that instant kiss....Read more of this...
by Binyon, Laurence


In The Willow Shade

...ill,
What more that willow meant;

That silvery weeping willow tree
With all leaves shivering,
Which spent one long day overshadowing me
Beside a spring in Spring....Read more of this...
by Rossetti, Christina

Paradise Lost: Book 07

...bit lax, ye Powers of Heaven; 
And thou my Word, begotten Son, by thee 
This I perform; speak thou, and be it done! 
My overshadowing Spirit and Might with thee 
I send along; ride forth, and bid the Deep 
Within appointed bounds be Heaven and Earth; 
Boundless the Deep, because I Am who fill 
Infinitude, nor vacuous the space. 
Though I, uncircumscribed myself, retire, 
And put not forth my goodness, which is free 
To act or not, Necessity and Chance 
Approach not me, and wh...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Regained: The Fourth Book

...ake outward free?
Know, therefore, when my season comes to sit
On David's throne, it shall be like a tree
Spreading and overshadowing all the earth,
Or as a stone that shall to pieces dash
All monarchies besides throughout the world; 
And of my Kingdom there shall be no end.
Means there shall be to this; but what the means
Is not for thee to know, nor me to tell."
 To whom the Tempter, impudent, replied:—
"I see all offers made by me how slight
Thou valuest, because offered, ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Vergissmeinnicht

...nightmare ground
we found the place again, and found
the soldier sprawling in the sun.

The frowning barrel of his gun
overshadowing. As we came on
that day, he hit my tank with one
like the entry of a demon.

Look. Here in the gunpit spoil
the dishonoured picture of his girl
who has put: Steffi. Vergissmeinnicht.
in a copybook gothic script.

We see him almost with content,
abased, and seeming to have paid
and mocked at by his own equipment
that's hard and good when he's de...Read more of this...
by Douglas, Keith

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