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Famous Saddening Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Whittier, John Greenleaf
...spent life will 
Leave some faint echo still. 

A whisper giving breath 
Of praise or blame to death, 
Soothing or saddening such 
As loved the living much. 

Therefore with yearnings vain 
And fond I still would fain 
A kindly judgment seek, 
A tender thought bespeak. 

And, while my words are read, 
Let this at least be said: 
"Whate'er his life's defeatures, 
He loved his fellow-creatures. 

"If, of the Law's stone table, 
To hold he scarce was able 
The f...Read more of this...



by Owen, Wilfred
...dark,
And shivered in his ghastly suit of grey,
Legless, sewn short at elbow. Through the park
Voices of boys rang saddening like a hymn,
Voices of play and pleasure after day,
Till gathering sleep had mothered them from him.

About this time Town used to swing so gay
When glow-lamps budded in the light-blue trees
And girls glanced lovelier as the air grew dim,
-- In the old times, before he threw away his knees.
Now he will never feel again how slim
Girls' waist...Read more of this...

by Moore, Thomas
...he tear and the smile in thine eyes 
Blend like the rainbow that hangs in thy skies, 
Shining through sorrow's stream, 
Saddening through pleasure's beam, 
Thy suns with doubtful gleam, 
Weep while they rise. 

Erin, thy silent tear never shall cease, 
Erin, thy languid smile ne'er shall increase, 
Till, like the rainbow's light, 
Thy various tints unite, 
And form in heaven's sight 
One arch of peace!...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...ght among the thralls; 
But in the weeks that followed, the good Queen, 
Repentant of the word she made him swear, 
And saddening in her childless castle, sent, 
Between the in-crescent and de-crescent moon, 
Arms for her son, and loosed him from his vow. 

This, Gareth hearing from a squire of Lot 
With whom he used to play at tourney once, 
When both were children, and in lonely haunts 
Would scratch a ragged oval on the sand, 
And each at either dash from either end-- ...Read more of this...

by Hunt, James Henry Leigh
...all;
No plunder, were she ne'er so great,
: No fright to great or small;

No,—not a single kiss unliked,
: Nor one look-saddening clip;
Accurst be he, said Robin Hood,
: Makes pale a woman's lip.

Only on the haughty rich,
: And on their unjust store,
He'd lay his fines of equity
: For his merry men and the poor.

And special was his joy, no doubt
: (Which made the dish to curse)
To light upon a good fat friar,
: And carve him of his purse.

A monk to him was a to...Read more of this...



by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...word of that fond tale--
Thy deep heart-yearnings, thy sweet memories
Of Tristram in that year he was away."


And, saddening on the sudden, spake Isolt,
"I had forgotten all in my strong joy
To see thee--yearnings?--ay! for, hour by hour,
Here in the never-ended afternoon,
O sweeter than all memories of thee,
Deeper than any yearnings after thee
Seem'd those far-rolling, westward-smiling seas,
Watch'd from this tower. Isolt of Britain dash'd
Before Isolt of Brittany ...Read more of this...

by Moore, Thomas
...e 
Dwell in a land serene -- 
Whose bowers beyond the shining wave 
At sunset, oft are seen. 
Ah, dream too full of saddening truth! 
Those mansions o'er the main 
Are like the hopes I built in youth -- 
As sunny and as vain!...Read more of this...

by Bronte, Anne
...rs not; but Time on me
A wide and wondrous change has wrought:
And in these parted years I see
Cause for grave care and saddening thought.
I see that time, and toil, and truth,
An inward hardness can impart, -­
Can freeze the generous blood of youth,
And steel full fast the tender heart.' 

'Bless God for that divine decree! -­
That hardness comes with misery,
And suffering deadens pain;
That at the frequent sight of woe
E'en Pity's tears forget to flow,
If reason sti...Read more of this...

by McGonagall, William Topaz
...still the merciless flame shot up higher and higher;
Oh, God! it is terrible and cruel to perish by fire;
Alas! it was saddening and fearful to behold,
When I think of it, kind Christians, it makes my blood run cold. 

What makes the death of Fyffe the more distressing,
He was going to be the groomsman at his sister's bridal dressing,
Who was going to be married the next day;
But, alas! the brave hero's life was taken away. 

But accidents will happen by land and by ...Read more of this...

by Holmes, Oliver Wendell
...doubting, dying,
The silvered globule seems a glistening tear.

But Nature lends her mirror of illusion
To win from saddening scenes our age-dimmed eyes,
And misty day-dreams blend in sweet confusion
The wintry landscape and the summer skies.

So when the iron portal shuts behind us,
And life forgets us in its noise and whirl,
Visions that shunned the glaring noonday find us,
And glimmering starlight shows the gates of pearl.

I come not here your morning hour to ...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...rd of that fond tale-- 
Thy deep heart-yearnings, thy sweet memories 
Of Tristram in that year he was away.' 

And, saddening on the sudden, spake Isolt, 
`I had forgotten all in my strong joy 
To see thee--yearnings?--ay! for, hour by hour, 
Here in the never-ended afternoon, 
O sweeter than all memories of thee, 
Deeper than any yearnings after thee 
Seemed those far-rolling, westward-smiling seas, 
Watched from this tower. Isolt of Britain dashed 
Before Isolt of B...Read more of this...

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