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Famous Phoenician Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...In lives lived long ago.
   Perhaps I rowed with galley slaves,
     Whose labour never ceased,
   To bring across Phoenician waves
     Your treasure from the East.

   Maybe you were an Emperor then
     And I a favourite slave;
   Some youth, whom from the lions' den
     You vainly tried to save!
   Maybe I reigned, a mighty King,
     The early nations knew,
   And you were some slight captive thing,
     Some maiden whom I slew.

   Perhaps, adrift on d...Read more of this...
by Nicolson, Adela Florence Cory



...Through thick Arcadian woods a hunter went, 
Following the beasts upon a fresh spring day; 
But since his horn-tipped bow but seldom bent, 
Now at the noontide nought had happed to slay, 
Within a vale he called his hounds away, 
Hearkening the echoes of his lone voice cling 
About the cliffs and through the beech-trees ring.

But when they ended, still aw...Read more of this...
by Morris, William
...Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,
  Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell
  And the profit and loss.
                                           A current under sea
  Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell
  He passed the stages of his age and youth
  Entering the whirlpool.
                                         Gentile or Jew
  O ...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind-
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.

Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you're destined for.
But don't hurry the journey at all...Read more of this...
by Cavafy, Constantine P
...me soon behind! 
 Alas! we all pursue its steps! and when 
 We've sunk to rest within its arms entwined, 
 Like the Phoenician virgin, wake, and find 
 Ourselves alone again. 
 
 Then, through the distant future's boundless space, 
 We seek the lost companion of our days: 
 "Return, return!" we cry, and lo, apace 
 Pleasure appears! but not to fill the place 
 Of that we mourn always. 
 
 I, should unhallowed Pleasure woo me now, 
 Will to the wanton sorc'ress s...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor



...s wait.
At once ship smote on ship with brazen beak;
A vessel of the Greeks began the attack,
Crushing the stem of a Phoenician ship.
Each on a different vessel turned its prow.
At first the current of the Persian host
Withstood; but when within the strait the throng
Of ships was gathered, and they could not aid
Each other, but by their own brazen bows
Were struck, they shattered all our naval host.
The Grecian vessels not unskillfully
Were smiting round about; the...Read more of this...
by Aeschylus,
...Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
  With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
  Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
  (Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
  Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
  The lady of situations.                                                 50
  Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
  And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
  Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
 ...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...eless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Europe,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Phoenician Sailor,
(Those are pearls that were his eyes. Look!)
Here is Belladonna, the Lady of the Rocks,
The lady of situations. 
Here is the man with three staves, and here the Wheel,
And here is the one-eyed merchant, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he carries on his back,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Hanged Man. Fear death ...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry