Famous Piety Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Song To David

...ar; 
Man, soul, and angel, without peer, 
 Priest, champion, sage, and boy; 
In armor, or in ephod clad, 
His pomp, his piety was glad; 
 Majestic was his joy. 

 XVI 
Wise—in recovery from his fall, 
Whence rose his eminence o'er all, 
 Of all the most revil'd; 
The light of Israel in his ways, 
Wise are his precepts, prayer and praise, 
 And counsel to his child. 

 XVII 
His muse, bright angel of his verse, 
Gives balm for all the thorns that pierce, 
 For all the pangs th...Read more of this...
by Smart, Christopher


Absalom And Achitophel

...ieve.
The Jews well know their pow'r: ere Saul they chose,
God was their king, and God they durst depose.
Urge now your piety, your filial name,
A father's right, and fear of future fame;
The public good, the universal call,
To which even Heav'n submitted, answers all.
Nor let his love enchant your generous mind;
'Tis Nature's trick to propagate her kind.
Our fond begetters, who would never die,
Love but themselves in their posterity.
Or let his kindness by th'effects be tri'...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John

Alastor: or the Spirit of Solitude

...Earth, Ocean, Air, belovèd brotherhood!
If our great Mother has imbued my soul
With aught of natural piety to feel
Your love, and recompense the boon with mine;
If dewy morn, and odorous noon, and even,
With sunset and its gorgeous ministers,
And solemn midnight's tingling silentness;
If Autumn's hollow sighs in the sere wood,
And Winter robing with pure snow and crowns
Of starry ice the gray grass and bare boughs; 
If Spring's voluptuous pantings when she ...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

Among School Children

...te a mother's reveries,
But keep a marble or a bronze repose.
And yet they too break hearts - O presences
That passion, piety or affection knows,
And that all heavenly glory symbolise -
O self-born mockers of man's enterprise;

 VIII

Labour is blossoming or dancing where
The body is not bruised to pleasure soul.
Nor beauty born out of its own despair,
Nor blear-eyed wisdom out of midnight oil.
O chestnut-tree, great-rooted blossomer,
Are you the leaf, the blossom or the bole...Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler

As I Sat Alone by Blue Ontario's Shores

...ects as we see assume to write poems for America? 
For our victorious armies, and the offspring following the armies?)

Piety and conformity to them that like! 
Peace, obesity, allegiance, to them that like! 
I am he who tauntingly compels men, women, nations, 
Crying, Leap from your seats, and contend for your lives! 

I am he who walks the States with a barb’d tongue, questioning every one I meet;
Who are you, that wanted only to be told what you knew before? 
Who are you, ...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt


Eloisa to Abelard

...e floors;
No silver saints, by dying misers giv'n,
Here brib'd the rage of ill-requited heav'n:
But such plain roofs as piety could raise,
And only vocal with the Maker's praise.
In these lone walls (their days eternal bound)
These moss-grown domes with spiry turrets crown'd,
Where awful arches make a noonday night,
And the dim windows shed a solemn light;
Thy eyes diffus'd a reconciling ray,
And gleams of glory brighten'd all the day.
But now no face divine contentment wears...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Endymion: Book I

...y for the woodland altar.
O kindly muse! let not my weak tongue faulter
In telling of this goodly company,
Of their old piety, and of their glee:
But let a portion of ethereal dew
Fall on my head, and presently unmew
My soul; that I may dare, in wayfaring,
To stammer where old Chaucer used to sing.

 Leading the way, young damsels danced along,
Bearing the burden of a shepherd song;
Each having a white wicker over brimm'd
With April's tender younglings: next, well trimm'd,
A ...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Endymion: Book III

...the richest overflow
Of joy that ever pour'd from heaven.

 ----"Away!"
Shouted the new-born god; "Follow, and pay
Our piety to Neptunus supreme!"--
Then Scylla, blushing sweetly from her dream,
They led on first, bent to her meek surprise,
Through portal columns of a giant size,
Into the vaulted, boundless emerald.
Joyous all follow'd, as the leader call'd,
Down marble steps; pouring as easily
As hour-glass sand--and fast, as you might see
Swallows obeying the south summer'...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Paradise Lost: Book 06

...ee, and whelmed 
Thy legions under darkness: But thou seest 
All are not of thy train; there be, who faith 
Prefer, and piety to God, though then 
To thee not visible, when I alone 
Seemed in thy world erroneous to dissent 
From all: My sect thou seest;now learn too late 
How few sometimes may know, when thousands err. 
Whom the grand foe, with scornful eye askance, 
Thus answered. Ill for thee, but in wished hour 
Of my revenge, first sought for, thou returnest 
From flight,...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 11

...haste to the Angel cried. 
O Teacher, some great mischief hath befallen 
To that meek man, who well had sacrificed; 
Is piety thus and pure devotion paid? 
To whom Michael thus, he also moved, replied. 
These two are brethren, Adam, and to come 
Out of thy loins; the unjust the just hath slain, 
For envy that his brother's offering found 
From Heaven acceptance; but the bloody fact 
Will be avenged; and the other's faith, approved, 
Lose no reward; though here thou see him di...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 12

...hem enemies; 
From whom as oft he saves them penitent 
By Judges first, then under Kings; of whom 
The second, both for piety renowned 
And puissant deeds, a promise shall receive 
Irrevocable, that his regal throne 
For ever shall endure; the like shall sing 
All Prophecy, that of the royal stock 
Of David (so I name this king) shall rise 
A Son, the Woman's seed to thee foretold, 
Foretold to Abraham, as in whom shall trust 
All nations; and to kings foretold, of kings 
The...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Plegaria (Prayer)

...les o tus rayos!Eros: acaso no sentiste nuncaPiedad de las estatuas?…              English    –Eros: have you never feltPiety for the statues?These chrysalides of stone,Some formidable raceIn an eternal, unutterable hope.The sleeping craters of their mouthsUtter the black ash of silence;A copious shroud of CalmFalls from the columns of their arms,And night flows from their eyesockets;Victims of Destiny or Mystery,In magnificent and terrible cocoons,They wait for Life or Death...Read more of this...
by Agustini, Delmira

Prothalamion

...ke fun of me again."


Now I must betray myself.
The feast of bondage and unity is near,
And none engaged in that great piety
When each bows to the other, kneels, and takes
Hand in hand, glance and glance, care and care,
None may wear masks or enigmatic clothes,
For weakness blinds the wounded face enough.
In sense, see my shocking nakedness.

I gave a girl an apple when five years old,
Saying, Will you be sorry when I am gone?
Ravenous for such courtesies, my name
Is fed lik...Read more of this...
by Schwartz, Delmore

Samson Agonistes

...Temples nail'd. 
Nor shall I count it hainous to enjoy
The public marks of honour and reward
Conferr'd upon me, for the piety
Which to my countrey I was judg'd to have shewn.
At this who ever envies or repines
I leave him to his lot, and like my own.

Chor: She's gone, a manifest Serpent by her sting
Discover'd in the end, till now conceal'd.

Sam: So let her go, God sent her to debase me,
And aggravate my folly who committed 
To such a viper his most sacred trust
Of secresie...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

The Deserted Village

...he shore, and darken all the strand.
Contented toil, and hospitable care,
And kind connubial tenderness, are there;
And piety with wishes placed above,
And steady loyalty, and faithful love.
And thou, sweet Poetry, thou loveliest maid,
Still first to fly where sensual joys invade;
Unfit in these degenerate times of shame
To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame;
Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried,
My shame in crowds, my solitary pride;
Thou source of all my bliss...Read more of this...
by Goldsmith, Oliver

The Emigrants: Book I

...North;
Even these Parochial Priests, these humbled men;
Whose lowly undistinguish'd cottages
Witness'd a life of purest piety,
While the meek tenants were, perhaps, unknown
Each to the haughty Lord of his domain,
Who mark'd them not; the Noble scorning still
The poor and pious Priest, as with slow pace
He glided thro' the dim arch'd avenue
Which to the Castle led; hoping to cheer
The last sad hour of some laborious life
That hasten'd to its close--even such a Man
Becomes an e...Read more of this...
by Turner Smith, Charlotte

The Emigrants: Book II

...is pain'd
By the variety of woes that Man
For Man creates--his blessings often turn'd
To plagues and curses: Saint-like Piety,
Misled by Superstition, has destroy'd
More than Ambition; and the sacred flame
Of Liberty becomes a raging fire,
When Licence and Confusion bid it blaze.
From thy high throne, above yon radiant stars,
O Power Omnipotent! with mercy view
This suffering globe, and cause thy creatures cease,
With savage fangs, to tear her bleeding breast:
Refrain that ra...Read more of this...
by Turner Smith, Charlotte

The Giaour

...he declines the convent oath
And leaves those locks unhallowed growth,
But wears our garb in all beside;
And, not from piety but pride,
Gives wealth to walls that never heard 
Of his one holy vow nor word.
Lo! - mark ye, as the harmony
Peals louder praises to the sky,
That livid cheek, that stony air
Of mixed defiance and despair!
Saint Francis, keep him from the shrine!
Else may we dread the wrath divine
Made manifest by awful sign.
If ever evil angel bore
The form of morta...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Land

...rchyard--thirty generations laid.
Their names were old in history when Domesday Book was made;
 And the passion and the piety and prowess of his line
 Have seeded, rooted, fruited in some land the Law calls mine.

 Not for any beast that burrows, not for any bird that flies,
 Would I lose his large sound council, miss his keen amending
 eyes.
 He is bailiff, woodman, wheelwright, field-surveyor, engineer,
 And if flagrantly a poacher--'tain't for me to interfere.

 "Hob, what...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

...
He knows about it all -- He knows -- HE knows! 

LX.
The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it. 

LXI.
For let Philosopher and Doctor preach
Of what they will, and what they will not -- each
Is but one Link in an eternal Chain
That none can slip, nor break, nor over-reach. 

LXII.
And that inverted Bowl we call The Sky,
Whereunder crawling coop't we live an...Read more of this...
by Khayyam, Omar

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