Famous Sad Thoughts Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Valentines Song

...alentine.

We do not now parade our "oughts"
And "shoulds" and motives and beliefs in God.
Their life lies all indoors; sad thoughts
Must keep the house, while gay thoughts go abroad,
Within we hold the wake for hopes deceased;
But in the public streets, in wind or sun,
Keep open, at the annual feast,
The puppet-booth of fun.

Our powers, perhaps, are small to please,
But even *****-songs and castanettes,
Old jokes and hackneyed repartees
Are more than the parade of vain regr...Read more of this...
by Stevenson, Robert Louis


Contemplations

.... 

27 

183 O merry Bird (said I) that fears no snares,
184 That neither toils nor hoards up in thy barn,
185 Feels no sad thoughts nor cruciating cares
186 To gain more good or shun what might thee harm--
187 Thy clothes ne'er wear, thy meat is everywhere,
188 Thy bed a bough, thy drink the water clear--
189 Reminds not what is past, nor what's to come dost fear. 

28 

190 The dawning morn with songs thou dost prevent,
191 Sets hundred notes unto thy feathered crew,
192 So...Read more of this...
by Bradstreet, Anne

Friends Departed

...y are all gone into the world of light! 
And I alone sit ling'ring here; 
Their very memory is fair and bright, 
And my sad thoughts doth clear. 

It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,
Like stars upon some gloomy grove, 
Or those faint beams in which this hill is drest 
After the sun's remove. 

I see them walking in an air of glory, 
Whose light doth trample on my days:
My days, which are at best but dull and hoary, 
Mere glimmering and decays. 

O holy Hope! and high H...Read more of this...
by Vaughan, Henry

In Snow

...side 
You see the silent, soft, and cruel snow 
Falling again, and think what ills betide 
Unshelter'd creatures,--your sad thoughts may go 
Where War and Winter now, two spectre-wolves, 
Hunt in the freezing vapour that involves 
Those Asian peaks of ice and gulfs below. 
Does this young Soldier heed the snow that fills 
His mouth and open eyes? or mind, in truth, 
To-night, his mother's parting syllables? 
Ha! is't a red coat?--Merely blood. Keep ruth 
For others; this is b...Read more of this...
by Allingham, William

Lines Written In Early Spring

...I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And 'tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thought...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William


Longing

...
If you could walk with me upon the strand to-day,
And tell me that my longing love had won your own,
I think all my sad thoughts would then be put away,
And I could give back laughter for the Ocean’s moan!...Read more of this...
by Laurence Dunbar, Paul

Sea Song

...ss once again,
   And wearily resume his daily round
     Of love and labour, toil and strife and pain.

   How the sad thoughts slip back across the night:
     The whole thing seems so aimless and so vain.
   What use the raptures, passion and delight,
     Burnt out; as though they could not wake again.

   The worn-out nerves and weary brain repeat
     The question: Whither all these passions tend;—
   This curious thirst, so painful and so sweet,
     So fie...Read more of this...
by Nicolson, Adela Florence Cory

Sonnet 08

...stless thro' Fortune's mingled scenes I went,
Yet wept to think they would return no more!
But cease fond heart in such sad thoughts to roam,
For surely thou ere long shall reach thy home,
And pleasant is the way that lies before....Read more of this...
by Southey, Robert

Sonnet LXXII

...N class=i0>The bending head, crown'd with its locks of gold—All, all that charm'd, now but sad thoughts supply.How had I lived her bitter loss to weep,If that pure spirit, pitying my woe,Had not appear'd to bless my troubled sleep,Ere memory broke upon the world below?What pure, what gentle greetings then were mine!In...Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

The Burghers

...her shape shielded he.

Blanked by such love, I stood as in a drowse,
And the slow moon edged from the upland nigh,
My sad thoughts moving thuswise: "I may house

"And I may husband her, yet what am I
But licensed tyrant to this bonded pair?
Says Charity, Do as ye would be done by."...

Hurling my iron to the bushes there,
I bade them stay. And, as if brain and breast
Were passive, they walked with me to the stair.

Inside the house none watched; and on we prest
Before a mir...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas

The Children Dancing

...Away, sad thoughts, and teasing 
Perplexities, away! 
Let other blood go freezing, 
We will be wise and gay. 
For here is all heart-easing, 
An ecstasy at play.
The children dancing, dancing, 
Light upon happy feet, 
Both eye and heart entrancing 
Mingle, escape, and meet; 
Come joyous-eyed and advancing 
Or floatingly retreat.
Now slow, now swifter treading 
Thei...Read more of this...
by Binyon, Laurence

The Dungeon

...tes,  While in a grove I sate reclined,  In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts  Bring sad thoughts to the mind.   To her fair works did nature link  The human soul that through me ran;  And much it griev'd my heart to think  What man has made of man.   Through primrose tufts, in that sweet bower,  The periwinkle trail'd its wreathes;  And 'tis my faith that ev...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

The Great Adventure of Max Breuck

...She loved her father 
well,
But fears she had not. He had always been
Just sailed or sailing. And she must not dwell
On sad thoughts, he had told her so, and seen
Her smile at parting. But she sighed once more.
Two years was long; 'twas not one hour yet!
Mynheer Grootver she would not see at all.
Yes, yes, she knew, but ere the date so set,
The "Horn of Fortune" would be at the wall.
When Max had bid farewell, she watched him from the door.

35
The next day, and the next, Max...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

They are all Gone into the World of Light

...re all gone into the world of light!
2 And I alone sit ling'ring here;
3 Their very memory is fair and bright,
4 And my sad thoughts doth clear.

5 It glows and glitters in my cloudy breast,
6 Like stars upon some gloomy grove,
7 Or those faint beams in which this hill is drest,
8 After the sun's remove.

9 I see them walking in an air of glory,
10 Whose light doth trample on my days:
11 My days, which are at best but dull and hoary,
12 Mere glimmering and decays.

13 O holy ...Read more of this...
by Vaughan, Henry

Yield not to grief, though fortune prove unkind,

...Yield not to grief, though fortune prove unkind,
Nor call sad thoughts of parted friends to mind;
Devote thy heart to sugary lips, and wine,
Cast not thy precious life unto the wind!...Read more of this...
by Khayyam, Omar

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