Famous Pleasing Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Nocturnal Reverie

...The waving moon and trembling leaves are seen;
When freshened grass now bears itself upright,
And makes cool banks to pleasing rest invite,
Whence springs the woodbind, and the bramble-rose,
And where the sleepy cowslip sheltered grows;
Whilst now a paler hue the foxglove takes,
Yet checkers still with red the dusky brakes
When scattered glow-worms, but in twilight fine,
Shew trivial beauties watch their hour to shine;
Whilst Salisb'ry stands the test of every light,...Read more of this...
by Finch, Anne Kingsmill


A poem on the rising glory of America

...high renown 
This height of wealth, of liberty and fame. 



LEANDER. 
Speak then Eugenio, for I've heard you tell 
The pleasing hist'ry, and the cause that brought 
The first advent'rers to these happy shores; 
The glorious cause that urg'd our fathers first 
To visit climes unknown and wilder woods 
Than e'er Tartarian or Norwegian saw, 
And with fair culture to adorn that soil 
Which never knew th' industrious swain before. 



EUGENIO. 
All this long story to rehearse wou...Read more of this...
by Brackenridge, Hugh Henry

A Poets Voice XV

...re my brother, but why are you quarreling with me? Why do you invade my country and try to subjugate me for the sake of pleasing those who are seeking glory and authority? 

Why do you leave your wife and children and follow Death to the distant land for the sake of those who buy glory with your blood, and high honor with your mother's tears? 

Is it an honor for a man to kill his brother man? If you deem it an honor, let it be an act of worship, and erect a temple to Cain wh...Read more of this...
by Gibran, Kahlil

An Essay On Criticism

...Where-e'er you find the cooling Western Breeze,
In the next Line, it whispers thro' the Trees;
If Chrystal Streams with pleasing Murmurs creep,
The Reader's threaten'd (not in vain) with Sleep.
Then, at the last, and only Couplet fraught
With some unmeaning Thing they call a Thought,
A needless Alexandrine ends the Song,
That like a wounded Snake, drags its slow length along.
Leave such to tune their own dull Rhimes, and know
What's roundly smooth, or languishingly slow;
And ...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Beowulf (Modern English)

...eed of manly courage, or else I will await
my final day here in this mead-hall.” (ll. 631-38)

These words were most pleasing to the woman,
the boasting speech of the Geat—she went gold-laden,
the generous queen of her people to sit by her lord. (ll. 639-41)

Then there were again, as before, within the hall
glorious words spoken and a tribe in high spirits,
the voice of the victorious folk, until, almost immediately,
the son of Halfdane wished to seek his evening r...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,


Comus

...Elysium: Scylla wept,
And chid her barking waves into attention,
And fell Charybdis murmured soft applause.
Yet they in pleasing slumber lulled the sense,
And in sweet madness robbed it of itself;
But such a sacred and home-felt delight,
Such sober certainty of waking bliss,
I never heard till now. I'll speak to her,
And she shall be my queen.QHail, foreign wonder!
Whom certain these rough shades did never breed,
Unless the goddess that in rural shrine
Dwell'st here with Pan ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Endymion: Book IV

..., or javelin,
Fly in the air where his had never been--
And yet he knew it not.

 O treachery!
Why does his lady smile, pleasing her eye
With all his sorrowing? He sees her not.
But who so stares on him? His sister sure!
Peona of the woods!--Can she endure--
Impossible--how dearly they embrace!
His lady smiles; delight is in her face;
It is no treachery.

 "Dear brother mine!
Endymion, weep not so! Why shouldst thou pine
When all great Latmos so exalt wilt be?
Thank the great...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Last Instructions to a Painter

...squadron leisurely return, 
And spite of Ruperts and of Albemarles, 
To Ruyter's triumph lead the captive Charles. 
The pleasing sight he often does prolong: 
Her masts erect, tough cordage, timbers strong, 
Her moving shapes, all these he does survey, 
And all admires, but most his easy prey. 
The seamen search her all within, without: 
Viewing her strength, they yet their conquest doubt; 
Then with rude shouts, secure, the air they vex, 
With gamesome joy insulting on her d...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey

...ty,
The picture of the mind revives again;
While here I stand, not only with the sense
Of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years.  And so I dare to hope,
Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first
I came among these hills; when like a roe
I bounded o'er the mountains, by the sides
Of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams,
Wherever nature led—more like a man
Flying from something that he d...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

Marriage

...s and the bit of an ear';
turn to the letter M
and you will find
that `a wife is a coffin,'
that severe object
with the pleasing geometry
stipulating space and not people,
refusing to be buried
and uniquely disappointing,
revengefully wrought in the attitude
of an adoring child
to a distinguished parent."
She says, "This butterfly,
this waterfly, this nomad
that has `proposed
to settle on my hand for life.' --
What can one do with it?
There must have been more time
in Shakesp...Read more of this...
by Moore, Marianne

My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)

...
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare....Read more of this...
by Shakespeare, William

Paradise Lost: Book 02

...ness and final misery, 
Passion and apathy, and glory and shame: 
Vain wisdom all, and false philosophy!-- 
Yet, with a pleasing sorcery, could charm 
Pain for a while or anguish, and excite 
Fallacious hope, or arm th' obdured breast 
With stubborn patience as with triple steel. 
Another part, in squadrons and gross bands, 
On bold adventure to discover wide 
That dismal world, if any clime perhaps 
Might yield them easier habitation, bend 
Four ways their flying march, alon...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 05

...-warbling bird, that now awake 
'Tunes sweetest his love-laboured song; now reigns 
'Full-orbed the moon, and with more pleasing light 
'Shadowy sets off the face of things; in vain, 
'If none regard; Heaven wakes with all his eyes, 
'Whom to behold but thee, Nature's desire? 
'In whose sight all things joy, with ravishment 
'Attracted by thy beauty still to gaze.' 
I rose as at thy call, but found thee not; 
To find thee I directed then my walk; 
And on, methought, alone I p...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 09

...rass, or kine, 
Or dairy, each rural sight, each rural sound; 
If chance, with nymph-like step, fair virgin pass, 
What pleasing seemed, for her now pleases more; 
She most, and in her look sums all delight: 
Such pleasure took the Serpent to behold 
This flowery plat, the sweet recess of Eve 
Thus early, thus alone: Her heavenly form 
Angelick, but more soft, and feminine, 
Her graceful innocence, her every air 
Of gesture, or least action, overawed 
His malice, and with rap...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 10

...was pure; til, crammed and gorged, nigh burst 
With sucked and glutted offal, at one sling 
Of thy victorious arm, well-pleasing Son, 
Both Sin, and Death, and yawning Grave, at last, 
Through Chaos hurled, obstruct the mouth of Hell 
For ever, and seal up his ravenous jaws. 
Then Heaven and Earth renewed shall be made pure 
To sanctity, that shall receive no stain: 
Till then, the curse pronounced on both precedes. 
He ended, and the heavenly audience loud 
Sung Halleluiah, ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Samson Agonistes

...an be easily
Repuls't, without much inward passion felt
And secret sting of amorous remorse.

Sam: Love-quarrels oft in pleasing concord end,
Not wedlock-trechery endangering life.

Chor: It is not vertue, wisdom, valour, wit, 
Strength, comliness of shape, or amplest merit
That womans love can win or long inherit;
But what it is, hard is to say,
Harder to hit,
(Which way soever men refer it)
Much like thy riddle, Samson, in one day
Or seven, though one should musing sit;
If ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

The Artists

...firm bond of harmony.
The gaze, light-soaring, felt uplifted then,
When first the cedar's slender trunk it viewed;
And pleasingly the ocean's crystal flood
Reflected back the dancing form again.
Could ye mistake the look, with beauty fraught,
That Nature gave to help ye on your way?
The image floating on the billows taught
The art the fleeting shadow to portray.

From her own being torn apart,
Her phantom, beauteous as a dream,
She plunged into the silvery stream,
Surrenderi...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

The Four Ages of Man

....60 From thence I 'gan to sin, as soon as act;
2.61 A perverse will, a love to what's forbid;
2.62 A serpent's sting in pleasing face lay hid;
2.63 A lying tongue as soon as it could speak
2.64 And fifth Commandment do daily break;
2.65 Oft stubborn, peevish, sullen, pout, and cry;
2.66 Then nought can please, and yet I know not why.
2.67 As many was my sins, so dangers too,
2.68 For sin brings sorrow, sickness, death, and woe,
2.69 And though I miss the tossings of the mind,...Read more of this...
by Bradstreet, Anne

The Knights Tale

...e,
They would, their thankes, willen to be there,
T' fight for a lady; Benedicite,
It were a lusty* sighte for to see. *pleasing
And right so fared they with Palamon;
With him there wente knightes many one.
Some will be armed in an habergeon,
And in a breast-plate, and in a gipon*; *short doublet.
And some will have *a pair of plates* large; *back and front armour*
And some will have a Prusse* shield, or targe; *Prussian
Some will be armed on their legges weel;
Some have an a...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Seasons: Winter

...arent-Bough,
That, in the first, grey, Glances of the Dawn,
Looks wild, and wonders at the wintry Waste.

THE Year, yet pleasing, but declining fast,
Soft, o'er the secret Soul, in gentle Gales, 
A Philosophic Melancholly breathes,
And bears the swelling Thought aloft to Heaven.
Then forming Fancy rouses to conceive,
What never mingled with the Vulgar's Dream:
Then wake the tender Pang, the pitying Tear, 
The Sigh for suffering Worth, the Wish prefer'd
For Humankind, the Joy ...Read more of this...
by Thomson, James

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