Famous Savage Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Twenty Years Hence

by Walter Savage Landor
 Twenty years hence my eyes may grow
If not quite dim, yet rather so,
Still yours from others they shall know
Twenty years hence.

Twenty years hence though it may hap
That I be called to take a nap
In a cool cell where thunderclap
Was never heard,

There breathe but o'er my arch of grass
A not too sadly sighed Alas,
And I shall catch, ere you can...Read more of this...

On An Eclipse Of The Moon

by Walter Savage Landor
 Struggling, and faint, and fainter didst thou wane,
O Moon! and round thee all thy starry train
Came forth to help thee, with half-open eyes,
And trembled every one with still surprise,
That the black Spectre should have dared assail
Their beauteous queen and seize her sacred veil...Read more of this...

Years

by Walter Savage Landor
 They enter as animals from the outer
Space of holly where spikes
Are not thoughts I turn on, like a Yogi,
But greenness, darkness so pure
They freeze and are.

O God, I am not like you
In your vacuous black,
Stars stuck all over, bright stupid confetti.
Eternity bores me,
I never wanted it.

What I love is
The piston in motion ----
My soul dies before it.
And the hooves...Read more of this...

You smiled you spoke and I believed

by Walter Savage Landor
 You smiled, you spoke, and I believed,
By every word and smile deceived.
Another man would hope no more;
Nor hope I what I hoped before:
But let not this last wish be vain;
Deceive, deceive me once again!...Read more of this...

In spring and summer winds may blow

by Walter Savage Landor
 In spring and summer winds may blow,
And rains fall after, hard and fast;
The tender leaves, if beaten low,
Shine but the more for shower and blast

But when their fated hour arrives,
When reapers long have left the field,
When maidens rifle turn'd-up hives,
And their last juice fresh apples yield,

A leaf perhaps may still remain
Upon some solitary tree,
Spite of the wind and of...Read more of this...

Do you Remember me? or are you Proud?

by Walter Savage Landor
 "Do you remember me? or are you proud?"
Lightly advancing thro' her star-trimm'd crowd,
Ianthe said, and lookt into my eyes,
"A yes, a yes, to both: for Memory
Where you but once have been must ever be,
And at your voice Pride from his throne must rise."...Read more of this...

Very True the Linnets Sing

by Walter Savage Landor
 Very true, the linnets sing 
Sweetest in the leaves of spring: 
You have found in all these leaves 
That which changes and deceives, 
And, to pine by sun or star, 
Left them, false ones as they are. 
But there be who walk beside 
Autumn's, till they all have died, 
And who lend a patient ear 
To low notes from...Read more of this...

Ianthes Question

by Walter Savage Landor
 ‘Do you remember me? or are you proud?’
Lightly advancing thro’ her star-trimm’d crowd,
Ianthe said, and look’d into my eyes.
‘A yes, a yes to both: for Memory
Where you but once have been must ever be,
And at your voice Pride from his throne must rise.’...Read more of this...

The Three Roses

by Walter Savage Landor
 When the buds began to burst,
Long ago, with Rose the First
I was walking; joyous then
Far above all other men,
Till before us up there stood
Britonferry's oaken wood,
Whispering, "Happy as thou art,
Happiness and thou must part."
Many summers have gone by
Since a Second Rose and I
(Rose from the same stem) have told
This and other tales of old.
She upon her wedding day
Carried home...Read more of this...

Death Stands Above Me Whispering Low

by Walter Savage Landor
 Death stands above me, whispering low 
I know not what into my ear:
Of his strange language all I know 
Is, there is not a word of fear....Read more of this...

Well I Remember How You Smiled

by Walter Savage Landor
 Well I remember how you smiled
To see me write your name upon
The soft sea-sand . . . "O! what a child!
You think you're writing upon stone!"

I have since written what no tide
Shall ever wash away, what men
Unborn shall read o'er ocean wide
And find Ianthe's name again....Read more of this...

Mother I cannot mind my Wheel

by Walter Savage Landor
 MOTHER, I cannot mind my wheel; 
 My fingers ache, my lips are dry: 
O, if you felt the pain I feel! 
 But O, who ever felt as I? 

No longer could I doubt him true-- 
 All other men may use deceit; 
He always said my eyes were blue, 
 And often swore my lips were sweet....Read more of this...

One Lovely Name

by Walter Savage Landor
 One lovely name adorns my song, 
And, dwelling in the heart, 
Forever falters at the tongue, 
And trembles to depart....Read more of this...

To Age

by Walter Savage Landor
 Welcome, old friend! These many years 
Have we lived door by door; 
The fates have laid aside their shears 
Perhaps for some few more. 

I was indocile at an age 
When better boys were taught, 
But thou at length hast made me sage, 
If I am sage in aught. 

Little I know from other men, 
Too little they know...Read more of this...

Resignation

by Walter Savage Landor
 WHY, why repine, my pensive friend, 
 At pleasures slipp'd away? 
Some the stern Fates will never lend, 
 And all refuse to stay. 

I see the rainbow in the sky, 
 The dew upon the grass; 
I see them, and I ask not why 
 They glimmer or they pass. 

With folded arms I linger not 
 To...Read more of this...

Mild is the Parting Year

by Walter Savage Landor
 Mild is the parting year, and sweet 
The odour of the falling spray; 
Life passes on more rudely fleet, 
And balmless is its closing day. 

I wait its close, I court its gloom, 
But mourn that never must there fall 
Or on my breast or on my tomb 
The tear that would have soothed it all....Read more of this...

Corinna from Athens to Tanagra

by Walter Savage Landor
 Tanagra! think not I forget
Thy beautifully-storey’d streets;
Be sure my memory bathes yet
In clear Thermodon, and yet greets
The blythe and liberal shepherd boy,
Whose sunny bosom swells with joy
When we accept his matted rushes
Upheaved with sylvan fruit; away he bounds, and blushes.

I promise to bring back with me
What thou with transport wilt receive,
The only proper gift for thee,
Of which no mortal...Read more of this...

The Chrysolites and Rubies Bacchus Brings

by Walter Savage Landor
 The chrysolites and rubies Bacchus brings 
To crown the feast where swells the broad-vein'd brow, 
Where maidens blush at what the minstrel sings, 
They who have coveted may covet now. 

Bring me, in cool alcove, the grape uncrush'd, 
The peach of pulpy cheek and down mature, 
Where every voice (but bird's or child's) is hush'd, 
And every thought, like...Read more of this...

Ianthe! You are Calld to Cross the Sea

by Walter Savage Landor
 Ianthe! you are call'd to cross the sea!
A path forbidden me!
Remember, while the Sun his blessing sheds
Upon the mountain-heads,
How often we have watcht him laying down
His brow, and dropt our own
Against each other's, and how faint and short
And sliding the support!
What will succeed it now? Mine is unblest,
Ianthe! nor will rest
But on the very thought that swells with pain.
O...Read more of this...

Dying Speech of an Old Philosopher

by Walter Savage Landor
 I strove with none, for none was worth my strife:
Nature I loved, and, next to Nature, Art:
I warm'd both hands before the fire of Life;
It sinks; and I am ready to depart....Read more of this...

Late Leaves

by Walter Savage Landor
 THE leaves are falling; so am I; 
The few late flowers have moisture in the eye; 
 So have I too. 
Scarcely on any bough is heard 
Joyous, or even unjoyous, bird 
 The whole wood through. 

Winter may come: he brings but nigher 
His circle (yearly narrowing) to the fire 
 Where old friends meet. 
Let him; now...Read more of this...

Proud Word You Never Spoke

by Walter Savage Landor
 Proud word you never spoke, but you will speak
Four not exempt from pride some future day.
Resting on one white hand a warm wet cheek,
Over my open volume you will say,
'This man loved me'—then rise and trip away....Read more of this...

On Catullus

by Walter Savage Landor
 Tell me not what too well I know
About the bard of Sirmio.
Yes, in Thalia’s son
Such stains there are—as when a Grace
Sprinkles another’s laughing face
With nectar, and runs on....Read more of this...

Remain!

by Walter Savage Landor
 REMAIN, ah not in youth alone! 
 --Tho' youth, where you are, long will stay-- 
But when my summer days are gone, 
 And my autumnal haste away. 
'Can I be always by your side?' 
 No; but the hours you can, you must, 
Nor rise at Death's approaching stride, 
 Nor go when dust is gone to dust....Read more of this...

Soon O Ianthe! life is oer

by Walter Savage Landor
 Soon, O Ianthe! life is o'er,
And sooner beauty's heavenly smile:
Grant only (and I ask no more),
Let love remain that little while....Read more of this...

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