Famous Praises Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Ego Tripping

by Nikki Giovanni
I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
that only glows every one hundred years falls
into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
the...Read more of this...

On Woman

by William Butler Yeats
 May God be praised for woman
That gives up all her mind,
A man may find in no man
A friendship of her kind
That covers all he has brought
As with her flesh and bone,
Nor quarrels with a thought
Because it is not her own.

Though pedantry denies,
It's plain the Bible means
That Solomon grew wise
While talking with his queens.
Yet never could, although
They say he counted...Read more of this...

Within my Garden rides a Bird

by Emily Dickinson
 Within my Garden, rides a Bird
Upon a single Wheel --
Whose spokes a dizzy Music make
As 'twere a travelling Mill --

He never stops, but slackens
Above the Ripest Rose --
Partakes without alighting
And praises as he goes,

Till every spice is tasted --
And then his Fairy Gig
Reels in remoter atmospheres --
And I rejoin my Dog,

And He and I, perplex us
If positive, 'twere we...Read more of this...

Proverbs of Hell (Excerpt from The Marriage of Heaven and H

by William Blake
 In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
The cut worm forgives the plow.
Dip him in the river who loves water.
A fool...Read more of this...

Psalm 45 part 2

by Isaac Watts
 Christ and his church.

The King of saints, how fair his face,
Adorned with majesty and grace!
He comes with blessings from above,
And wins the nations to his love.

At his right hand our eyes behold
The queen arrayed in purest gold;
The world admires her heav'nly dress,
Her robe of joy and righteousness.

He forms her beauties like his own;
He calls and seats her near his...Read more of this...

Hymn 51

by Isaac Watts
 Persevering grace.

Jude 1:24,25. 

To God the only wise,
Our Savior and our King,
Let all the saints below the skies
Their humble praises bring.

'Tis his almighty love,
His counsel, and' his care,
Preserves us safe from sin and death,
And every hurtful snare.

He will present our souls,
Unblemished and complete,
Before the glory of his face,
With joys divinely great.

Then all the chosen seed
Shall meet around the throne,
Shall...Read more of this...

Sonnet III

by Edmund Spenser
 THe souerayne beauty which I doo admyre,
witnesse the world how worthy to be prayzed:
the light wherof hath kindled heauenly iyre,
in my fraile spirit by her from basenesse raysed.
That being now with her huge brightnesse dazed,
base thing I can no more endure to view:
but looking still on her I stand amazed,
at wondrous sight of so celestiall hew.
So when my toung...Read more of this...

Go, book: go, vessel laden with the mind

by Hafez
Go, book: go, vessel laden with the mind
That builded thee, go now & bear thy freight
Of man’s old messaging to all mankind.

Say first:—Such oft-told things as I relate,
Such pond’rous words strung on unperish’d thought,
Such pearly praises worn by countless queens,
Such temper’d swords wherewith heroes have fought,
Such sceptres that have ruled all earth’s demesnes,
Such broider’d robes, such antique jewelry,
Such orbs, such...Read more of this...

The Philosopher the Young Man and his Statue

by Anne Kingsmill Finch
 A Fond Athenian Mother brought 
A Sculptor to indulge her Thought, 
And carve her Only Son; 
Who to such strange perfection wrought, 
That every Eye the Statue caught 
Nor ought was left undone. 

A youthful Smile adorn'd the Face, 
The polish gave that Smile a Grace; 
And through the Marble reigns 
(Which well the Artist's Skill cou'd trace, 
And...Read more of this...

Antiphon (I)

by George Herbert
 Chorus: Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing
'My God and King.'

Verse: The heav'ns are not too high, 
His praise may thither fly: 
The earth is not too low, 
His praises there may grow.

Chorus: Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing, 
'My God and King.'

Verse: The church with psalms must shout
No door can keep them out: 
But above...Read more of this...

Stanzas Written On The Road Between Florence And Pisa

by George (Lord) Byron
 Oh, talk not to me of a name great in story;
The days of our youth are the days of our glory;
And the myrtle and ivy of sweet two-and-twenty
Are worth all your laurels, though ever so plenty.

What are garlands and crowns to the brow that is wrinkled?
'Tis but as a dead flower with May-dew besprinkled:
Then away with all such from...Read more of this...

...And the Old Women Gathered (The Gospel Singers)

by Mari Evans
and the old women gathered 
and sang His praises 
standing 
resolutely together 
like supply sergeants who 
have seen 
everything 
and are still 
Regular Army: It 
was fierce and 
not melodic and 
although we ran 
the sound of it 
stayed in our ears . . ....Read more of this...

To chant wine's praises is my daily task,

by Omar Khayyam
To chant wine's praises is my daily task,
I live encompassed by cup, bowl and flask;
Zealot! if reason be thy guide, then know
That guide of me doth ofttimes guidance ask....Read more of this...

Mariana In The South

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 With one black shadow at its feet,
The house thro' all the level shines,
Close-latticed to the brooding heat,
And silent in its dusty vines:
A faint-blue ridge upon the right,
An empty river-bed before,
And shallows on a distant shore,
In glaring sand and inlets bright.
But "Aye Mary," made she moan,
And "Aye Mary," night and morn,
And "Ah," she sang, "to be all alone,
To live forgotten,...Read more of this...

Cassandra

by Hilda Doolittle
 O Hymen king. 

Hymen, O Hymen king, 
what bitter thing is this? 
what shaft, tearing my heart? 
what scar, what light, what fire 
searing my eye-balls and my eyes with flame? 
nameless, O spoken name, 
king, lord, speak blameless Hymen. 

Why do you blind my eyes? 
why do you dart and pulse 
till all the dark is home, 
then...Read more of this...

Psalm 136

by Isaac Watts
 God's wonders of creation, providence, redemption of Israel, and salvation of his people.

Give thanks to God the sovereign Lord;
His mercies still endure;
And be the King of kings adored;
His truth is ever sure.

What wonders hath his wisdom done!
How mighty is his hand!
Heav'n, earth, and sea, he framed alone;
How wide is his command

The sun supplies the day with light;
How bright his...Read more of this...

Sonnet LXXXIX

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 317] SONNET LXXXIX. Deh porgi mano all' affannato ingegno. HE BEGS LOVE TO ASSIST HIM, THAT HE MAY WORTHILY CELEBRATE HER.  Ah, Love! some succour to my weak mind deign,Lend to my frail and weary style thine aid,To sing of her who is immortal made,A citizen of the...Read more of this...

Psalm 9 part 1

by Isaac Watts
 Wrath and mercy from the judgment-seat.

With my whole heart I'll raise my song,
Thy wonders I'll proclaim;
Thou, sovereign Judge of right and wrong,
Wilt put my foes to shame.

I'll sing thy majesty and grace;
My God prepares his throne
To judge the world in righteousness,
And make his vengeance known.

Then shall the Lord a refuge prove
For all the poor oppressed;
To save the people of...Read more of this...

Psalm 104

by Isaac Watts
 The glory of God in creation and providence.

My soul, thy great Creator praise:
When clothed in his celestial rays,
He in full majesty appears,
And, like a robe, his glory wears.

The heav'ns are for his curtains spread,
The unfathomed deep he makes his bed.
Clouds are his chariot when he flies
On winged storms across the skies.

Angels, whom his own breath inspires,
His ministers, are flaming...Read more of this...

To Stella Who Collected and Transcribed His Poems

by Jonathan Swift
 As, when a lofty pile is raised,
We never hear the workmen praised,
Who bring the lime, or place the stones;
But all admire Inigo Jones:
So, if this pile of scattered rhymes
Should be approved in aftertimes;
If it both pleases and endures,
The merit and the praise are yours.
Thou, Stella, wert no longer young,
When first for thee my harp was strung,
Without one word of...Read more of this...

Circumstantial Evidence

by Ellis Parker Butler
 She does not mind a good cigar
 (The kind, that is, I smoke);
She thinks all men quite stupid are,
 (But laughs whene’er I joke).

She says she does not care for verse
 (But praises all I write);
She says that punning is a curse,
 (But then mine are so bright!)

She does not like a big moustache
 (You see that mine is...Read more of this...

Sonnet LVI

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 284] SONNET LVI. L' aura e l' odore e 'l refrigerio e l' ombra. HER OWN VIRTUES IMMORTALISE HER IN HEAVEN, AND HIS PRAISES ON EARTH.  The air and scent, the comfort and the shadeOf my sweet laurel, and its flowery sight,That to my weary life gave rest and...Read more of this...

Psalm 148 Paraphrased

by Isaac Watts
 Universal praise to God.

Loud hallelujahs to the Lord,
From distant worlds where creatures dwell;
Let heav'n begin the solemn word,
And sound it dreadful down to hell.

The Lord, how absolute he reigns!
Let every angel bend the knee;
Sing of his love in heav'nly strains,
And speak how fierce his terrors be.

High on a throne his glories dwell,
An awful throne of shining bliss;
Fly through the...Read more of this...

Sappho - A Monodrama

by Robert Southey
 Argument.

To leap from the promontory of LEUCADIA was believed by the Greeks to be
a remedy for hopeless love, if the self-devoted victim escaped with
life. Artemisia lost her life in the dangerous experiment: and Sappho is
said thus to have perished, in attempting to cure her passion for Phaon.


SAPPHO

(Scene the promontory of Leucadia.)

This is the spot:--'tis here Tradition says
That hopeless Love...Read more of this...

The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (excerpt)

by William Blake
 In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead.
The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.
Prudence is a rich, ugly old maid courted by Incapacity.
He who desires but acts not, breeds pestilence.
The cut worm forgives the plow.
Dip him in the river who loves water.
A fool...Read more of this...

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