Famous Resemblance Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Ships Are Made Ready In Silence

by W S Merwin
 Moored to the same ring:
The hour, the darkness and I,
Our compasses hooded like falcons.

Now the memory of you comes aching in
With a wash of broken bits which never left port
In which once we planned voyages,
They come knocking like hearts asking:
What departures on this tide?

Breath of land, warm breath,
You tighten the cold around the navel,
Though all shores but the first...Read more of this...

My Dearest Frank I Wish You Joy

by Jane Austen
 My dearest Frank, I wish you joy
Of Mary's safety with a Boy,
Whose birth has given little pain
Compared with that of Mary Jane.--
May he a growing Blessing prove,
And well deserve his Parents' Love!--
Endow'd with Art's and Nature's Good,
Thy Name possessing with thy Blood,
In him, in all his ways, may we
Another Francis WIlliam see!--
Thy infant days may he inherit,
THey warmth, nay...Read more of this...

Paris October 1936

by Cesar Vallejo
 From all of this I am the only one who leaves.
From this bench I go away, from my pants,
from my great situation, from my actions,
from my number split side to side,
from all of this I am the only one who leaves.

From the Champs Elysées or as the strange
alley of the Moon makes a turn,
my death goes away, my cradle...Read more of this...

To The Grasshopper

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 AFTER ANACREON.

[The strong resemblance of this fine poem to 
Cowley's Ode bearing the same name, and beginning "Happy insect! 
what can be," will be at once seen.]

HAPPY art thou, darling insect,
Who, upon the trees' tall branches,
By a modest draught inspired,
Singing, like a monarch livest!
Thou possessest as thy portion
All that on the plains thou seest,
All that by the hours is...Read more of this...

The Bird and the Arras

by Anne Kingsmill Finch
 By neer resemblance see that Bird betray'd
Who takes the well wrought Arras for a shade
There hopes to pearch and with a chearfull Tune
O're-passe the scortchings of the sultry Noon.
But soon repuls'd by the obdurate scean
How swift she turns but turns alas in vain
That piece a Grove, this shews an ambient sky
Where immitated Fowl their pinnions ply
Seeming to mount in...Read more of this...

Loves Language

by Ella Wheeler Wilcox
 How does Love speak? 
In the faint flush upon the tell-tale cheek, 
And in the pallor that succeeds it; by
The quivering lid of an averted eye –
The smile that proves the parent to a sigh –
Thus doth Love speak.

How does Love speak? 
By the uneven heart-throbs, and the freak
Of bounding pulses that stand still and ache, 
While new emotions,...Read more of this...

Of A Ministry Pitiful Angry Mean

by Jane Austen
 Of a Ministry pitiful, angry, mean,
A gallant commander the victim is seen.
For promptitude, vigour, success, does he stand
Condemn'd to receive a severe reprimand!
To his foes I could wish a resemblance in fate:
That they, too, may suffer themselves, soon or late,
The injustice they warrent. But vain is my spite
They cannot so suffer who never do right....Read more of this...

Hymn 146

by Isaac Watts
 Characters of Christ; borrowed from inanimate things in Scripture.

Go, worship at Immanuel's feet,
See in his face what wonders meet!
Earth is too narrow to express
His worth, his glory, or his grace.

[The whole creation can afford
But some faint shadows of my Lord;
Nature, to make his beauties known,
Must mingle colors not her own.]

[Is he compared to wine or bread?
Dear Lord, our souls...Read more of this...

Sonnet XIV

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET XIV. Movesi 'l vecchierel canuto e bianco. HE COMPARES HIMSELF TO A PILGRIM.  The palmer bent, with locks of silver gray,Quits the sweet spot where he has pass'd his years,Quits his poor family, whose anxious fearsPaint the loved father fainting on his way;And trembling, on his aged limbs slow borne,Read more of this...

Till Death -- is narrow Loving --

by Emily Dickinson
 Till Death -- is narrow Loving --
The scantest Heart extant
Will hold you till your privilege
Of Finiteness -- be spent --

But He whose loss procures you
Such Destitution that
Your Life too abject for itself
Thenceforward imitate --

Until -- Resemblance perfect --
Yourself, for His pursuit
Delight of Nature -- abdicate --
Exhibit Love -- somewhat --...Read more of this...

To Mary

by William Cowper
 The twentieth year is well nigh past
Since first our sky was overcast;— 
Ah would that this might be the last!
My Mary!

Thy spirits have a fainter flow,
I see thee daily weaker grow;— 
'Twas my distress that brought thee low,
My Mary!

Thy needles, once a shining store,
For my sake restless heretofore,
Now rust disused, and shine no more,
My Mary!

For though thou gladly wouldst...Read more of this...

To Mary On Receiving Her Picture

by George (Lord) Byron
 This faint resemblance of thy charms,
(Though strong as mortal art could give,)
My constant heart of fear disarms,
Revives my hopes, and bids me live.

Here, I can trace the locks of gold
Which round thy snowy forehead wave;
The cheeks which sprung from Beauty's mould,
The lips, which made me Beauty's slave.

Here I can trace---ah, no! that eye,
Whose azure floats in liquid fire,
Must all...Read more of this...

To A Gentlewoman For A Friend

by William Strode
 No marvell if the Sunne's bright eye
Shower downe hott flames; that qualitie
Still waytes on light; but when wee see
Those sparkling balles of ebony
Distil such heat, the gazer straight
Stands so amazed at the sight
As when the lightning makes a breach
Through pitchie clouds: can lightning reach
The marrowe hurting not the skynne?
Your eyes to me the same have byn;
Can jett invite the...Read more of this...

The Garden

by Louise Gluck
 How vainly men themselves amaze
To win the Palm, the Oke, or Bayes;
And their uncessant Labours see
Crown'd from some single Herb or Tree,
Whose short and narrow verged Shade
Does prudently their Toyles upbraid;
While all Flow'rs and all Trees do close
To weave the Garlands of repose.

Fair quiet, have I found thee here,
And Innocence thy Sister dear!
Mistaken long, I sought you then
In busie...Read more of this...

On A Distant View Of Harrow

by George (Lord) Byron
 Ye scenes of my childhood, whose lov'd recollection
Embitters the present, compar'd with the past;
Where science first dawn'd on the powers of reflection,
And friendships were form'd, too romantic to last;

Where fancy, yet, joys to retrace the resemblance
Of comrades, in friendship and mischief allied;
How welcome to me your ne'er fading remembrance,
Which rests in the bosom, though hope is deny'd!

Again I revisit...Read more of this...

Thoughts in a Garden

by Andrew Marvell
 HOW vainly men themselves amaze 
To win the palm, the oak, or bays, 
And their uncessant labours see 
Crown'd from some single herb or tree, 
Whose short and narrow-verged shade 
Does prudently their toils upbraid; 
While all the flowers and trees do close 
To weave the garlands of repose! 

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here, 
And Innocence thy...Read more of this...

Only A Boche

by Robert William Service
 We brought him in from between the lines: we'd better have let him lie;
For what's the use of risking one's skin for a tyke that's going to die?
What's the use of tearing him loose under a gruelling fire,
When he's shot in the head, and worse than dead, and all messed up on the wire?
However, I say, we brought him...Read more of this...

It bloomed and dropt a Single Noon --

by Emily Dickinson
 It bloomed and dropt, a Single Noon --
The Flower -- distinct and Red --
I, passing, thought another Noon
Another in its stead

Will equal glow, and thought no More
But came another Day
To find the Species disappeared --
The Same Locality --

The Sun in place -- no other fraud
On Nature's perfect Sum --
Had I but lingered Yesterday --
Was my retrieveless blame --

Much Flowers...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...

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