Famous Release Poems by Famous Poets

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

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An A.b.c

...TY and all-merciable* Queen,                         *all-merciful
To whom all this world fleeth for succour,
To have release of sin, of sorrow, of teen!*                 *affliction
Glorious Virgin! of all flowers flow'r,
To thee I flee, confounded in errour!
Help and relieve, almighty debonair,*                  *gracious, gentle
Have mercy of my perilous languour!
Vanquish'd me hath my cruel adversair.

                               B.

Bounty* so fix'd hath in...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey


Astrophel and Stella

...O Sleepe, the certaine knot of peace,
The baiting-place of wit, the balme of woe,
The poor mans wealth, the prisoners release,
Th' indifferent iudge betweene the high and low!
With shield of proofe shield me from out the prease
Of those fierce darts Despaire at me doth throw.
O make in me those ciuil wars to cease;
I will good tribute pay, if thou do so.
Take thou of me smooth pillowes, sweetest bed,
A chamber deafe of noise and blind of light,
A rosie garland and a...Read more of this...
by Sidney, Sir Philip

Custer

...lifts the bruised flower from the sod, 
Can lift crushed hearts to hope, for love is God.
Already now in freedom's glad release
The hunted look of fear gives place to peace, 
And in their eyes at thought of home appears
That rainbow light of joy which brightest shines through tears.



XLVII.
About the leader thick the warriors crowd; 
Late loud in censure, now in praises loud, 
They laud the tactics, and the skill extol
Which gained a bloodless yet a glorious goal.
Alone and...Read more of this...
by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler

Eviradnus

...have the soul. To darkness I at least 
 Remit you now. Oh, murderer Sigismond 
 And Ladisläus pirate, both beyond 
 Release—two demons that have broken ban! 
 Therefore 'tis time their empire over man 
 And converse with the living, should be o'er; 
 Tyrants, behold your tomb your eyes before; 
 Vampires and dogs, your sepulchre is here. 
 Enter." 
 
 He pointed to the gulf so near. 
 All terrified upon their knees they fell. 
 "Oh! take us not in your dread real...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor

Four Quartets 3: The Dry Salvages

...spicate or scry,
Observe disease in signatures, evoke
Biography from the wrinkles of the palm
And tragedy from fingers; release omens
By sortilege, or tea leaves, riddle the inevitable
With playing cards, fiddle with pentagrams
Or barbituric acids, or dissect
The recurrent image into pre-conscious terrors—
To explore the womb, or tomb, or dreams; all these are usual
Pastimes and drugs, and features of the press:
And always will be, some of them especially
When there is distre...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)


Hospital Window

...too much in the forehead helpless, covered my rage from 
gorge to prostate with grinding jaw and tightening anus 
not released the weeping scream of horror at robot Mayaguez 
World self ton billions metal grief unloaded 
Pnom Penh to Nakon Thanom, Santiago & Tehran. 
Fresh warm breeze in the window, day's release 
>from pain, cars float downside the bridge trestle 
and uncounted building-wall windows multiplied a mile 
deep into ash-delicate sky beguile 
my empty min...Read more of this...
by Ginsberg, Allen

Last Instructions to a Painter

...w thunder and inspect their fires. 

The court as once of war, now fond of peace, 
All to new sports their wanton fears release. 
From Greenwich (where intelligence they hold) 
Comes news of pastime martial and old, 
A punishment invented first to awe 
Masculine wives transgressing Nature's law, 
Where, when the brawny female disobeys, 
And beats the husband till for peace he prays, 
No concerned jury for him damage finds, 
Nor partial justice her behavior binds, 
But the jus...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Millenial Hymn to Lord Shiva

...s, media-men,
experts, know-all
television personalities,
animated puppets
with cartoon faces —
To whom can we pray
for release from illusion,
from the world-cave,
but Time the destroyer,
the liberator, the purifier?

The curse of Midas
has changed at a touch,
a golden handshake
earthly paradise
to lifeless matter,
where once was seed-time,
summer and winter,
food-chain, factory farming,
monocrops for supermarkets,
pesticides, weed-killers
birdless springs, 
endangered specie...Read more of this...
by Raine, Kathleen

Music

...s that quiver with desire,
And major chords that glow with perfect peace,--
Have fallen from above;
And thou canst give release
In music to the burdened heart of love.

Sound with the 'cellos' pleading, passionate strain
The yearning theme, and let the flute reply
In placid melody, while violins complain,
And sob, and sigh,
With muted string;
Then let the oboe half-reluctant sing
Of bliss that trembles on the verge of pain,
While 'cellos plead and plead again,
With throbbing ...Read more of this...
by Dyke, Henry Van

Power of Love

...and weakness, still increasing,
Seem to whisper 'Death is near,'

And I almost bid him welcome,
Knowing he would bring release,
Weary of this restless struggle --
Longing to repose in peace,

Then a glance of fond reproval
Bids such selfish longings flee
And a voice of matchless music
Murmurs 'Cherish life for me!'

Roused to newborn strength and courage,
Pain and grief, I cast away,
Health and life, I keenly follow,
Mighty Death is held at bay.

Yes, my love, I will be pati...Read more of this...
by Bronte, Anne

Requiem

...nd farewell.
[March 1940]

INTRODUCTION
[PRELUDE]

It happened like this when only the dead
Were smiling, glad of their release,
That Leningrad hung around its prisons
Like a worthless emblem, flapping its piece.
Shrill and sharp, the steam-whistles sang
Short songs of farewell
To the ranks of convicted, demented by suffering,
As they, in regiments, walked along -
Stars of death stood over us
As innocent Russia squirmed
Under the blood-spattered boots and tyres
Of the black m...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

Sleepers The

...errible heir; 
I have been wrong’d—I am oppress’d—I hate him that oppresses me, 
I will either destroy him, or he shall release me.

Damn him! how he does defile me! 
How he informs against my brother and sister, and takes pay for their blood! 
How he laughs when I look down the bend, after the steamboat that carries away my woman! 

Now the vast dusk bulk that is the whale’s bulk, it seems mine; 
Warily, sportsman! though I lie so sleepy and sluggish, the tap of my flukes is...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Song of Myself

...or batter’d with the blunts of
 muskets; 
A youth not seventeen years old seiz’d his assassin till two more came to
 release him; 
The three were all torn, and cover’d with the boy’s blood. 

At eleven o’clock began the burning of the bodies: 
That is the tale of the murder of the four hundred and twelve young men.

35
Would you hear of an old-fashion’d sea-fight? 
Would you learn who won by the light of the moon and stars? 
List to the story as my grandmother’s f...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Growth of Love

...ims,
Building a tower above the head of woe. 
Nor is there fairer work for beauty found
Than that she win in nature her release
From all the woes that in the world abound:
Nay with his sorrow may his love increase,
If from man's greater need beauty redound,
And claim his tears for homage of his peace. 

9
Thus to thy beauty doth my fond heart look,
That late dismay'd her faithless faith forbore;
And wins again her love lost in the lore
Of schools and script of many a learned ...Read more of this...
by Bridges, Robert Seymour

THE ILIAD (excerpt)

...d avenging Phoebus, son of Jove."

  The Greeks in shouts their joint assent declare,
  The priest to reverence, and release the fair.
  Not so Atrides; he, with kingly pride,
  Repulsed the sacred sire, and thus replied:

  "Hence on thy life, and fly these hostile plains,
  Nor ask, presumptuous, what the king detains
  Hence, with thy laurel crown, and golden rod,
  Nor trust too far those ensigns of thy god.
  Mine is thy daughter, priest, and shall remain;
  ...Read more of this...
by Homer,

The Man of Laws Tale

...s the pity for to hear them plain,* *lament
Through whiche plaintes gan their woe increase.
I pray you all my labour to release,
I may not tell all their woe till to-morrow,
I am so weary for to speak of sorrow.

But finally, when that the *sooth is wist,* *truth is known*
That Alla guiltless was of all her woe,
I trow an hundred times have they kiss'd,
And such a bliss is there betwixt them two,
That, save the joy that lasteth evermo',
There is none like, that any creature
H...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

The Most Beautiful Woman In Town

...ar
rather than lessening her beauty only seemed to highlight it. I met her at the West End
Bar several nights after her release from the convent. Being youngest, she was the last of
the sisters to be released. She simply came in and sat next to me. I was probably the
ugliest man in town and this might have had something to do with it. 
"Drink?" I asked. 
"Sure, why not?" 
I don't suppose there was anything unusual in our conversation that night, it was
simply in the feeling C...Read more of this...
by Bukowski, Charles

The Negatives

...he present. 
 It is her face I see now 
 though all I say is meant 
 for you, her face in the slow 

 agony of sexual 
 release. I cannot see you. 
 The dark wall ribbed with spittle 
 on which I play my childhood 
 brings me to this bed, mastered 
 by what I was, betrayed by 
 those I trusted. The one word 
 my mouth must open to is why.

JACK DAUVILLE: 
from a hotel in Tampa, Florida

 From Orleansville we drove 
 south until we reached the hills, 
 then east until 
 the ro...Read more of this...
by Levine, Philip

The Vanity of Human Wishes (excerpts)

...rise, and diff'rent views engage,
306 Superfluous lags the vet'ran on the stage,
307 Till pitying Nature signs the last release,
308 And bids afflicted worth retire to peace.

309 But few there are whom hours like these await,
310 Who set unclouded in the gulfs of fate.
311 From Lydia's monarch should the search descend,
312 By Solon caution'd to regard his end,
313 In life's last scene what prodigies surprise,
314 Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise?
315 From Marlb'r...Read more of this...
by Johnson, Samuel

Transfiguration

...ss from Fate's hard hand. 

We thought to weep, but sing for joy instead, 
Full of the grateful peace 
That follows her release; 
For nothing but the weary dust lies dead. 

Oh, noble woman! never more a queen 
Than in the laying down 
Of sceptre and of crown 
To win a greater kingdom, yet unseen; 

Teaching us how to seek the highest goal, 
To earn the true success -- 
To live, to love, to bless -- 
And make death proud to take a royal soul....Read more of this...
by Alcott, Louisa May

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