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Famous Saxons Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...a man
Marr'd by the javelin,
Men of the Northland
Shot over shield.
There was the Scotsman
Weary of war. 

We the West-Saxons,
Long as the daylight
Lasted, in companies
Troubled the track of the host that we hated;
Grimly with swords that were sharp from the grindstone
Fiercely we hack'd at the flyers before us. 

Mighty the Mercian,
Hard was his hand-play,
Sparing not any of
Those that with Anlaf,
Warriors over the
Weltering waters
Borne in the bark's-bosom,
Drew to this is...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord



...ends her head 
(But not as others do) 
She sees her loved ones, and her dead 
And hears their voices too. 

Fair as the Saxons in her youth, 
Not forward, and not shy; 
And strong in healthy life and truth 
As after years went by: 
She often laughed with sinners vain, 
Yet passed from faith to sight -- 
God gave her beauty back again 
The more her hair grew white. 

She came out in the Early Days, 
(Green seas, and blue -- and grey) -- 
The village fair, and English ways, 
Se...Read more of this...
by Lawson, Henry
...priest of St. Wilfrid
 In his chapel at Manhood End,
Ordered a midnight service
 For such as cared to attend.

But the Saxons were keeping Christmas,
 And the night was stormy as well.
Nobody came to service,
 Though Eddi rang the bell.

"'Wicked weather for walking,"
 Said Eddi of Manhood End.
"But I must go on with the service
 For such as care to attend."

The altar-lamps were lighted, --
 An old marsh-donkey came,
Bold as a guest invited,
 And stared at the guttering fla...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard
...Southampton Docks: October 1899 


Here, where Vespasian's legions struck the sands, 
And Cendric with the Saxons entered in, 
And Henry's army lept afloat to win 
Convincing triumphs over neighboring lands,

Vaster battalions press for further strands, 
To argue in the selfsame bloody mode 
Which this late age of thought, and pact, and code, 
Still fails to mend.--Now deckward tramp the bands,

Yellow as autumn leaves, alive as spring; 
And as each host draws ou...Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas
...Hittites of the seed of Uriah. God save the king. 

For the Hessians are Philistines with a mixture of Judah. 

For the Saxons are Benjamites, men of great subtlety and Marshal Saxe was direct from Benjamin. 

For the Danes are of the children of Zabulon. 

For the Venetians are the children of Mark and Romans. 

For the Swiss are Philistins of a particular family. God be gracious to Jonathan Tyers his family and to all the people at Vaux Hall. 

For the Sardinians are of the...Read more of this...
by Smart, Christopher



...d paid her
Ever since Domesday Book.

See you our stilly woods of oak,
And the dread ditch beside?
O that was where the Saxons broke
On the day that Harold died.

See you the windy levels spread
About the gates of Rye?
O that was where the Northmen fled,
When Alfred's ships came by.

See you our pastures wide and lone,
Where the red oxen browse?
O there was a City thronged and known,
Ere London boasted a house.

And see you after rain, the trace
Of mound and ditch and wall? 
...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard
...h armies made a hideous roar. 

Then King James he waved his sword on high,
And cried, "Scotsmen, forward! and make the Saxons fly;
And remember Scotland's independence is at stake,
So charge them boldly for Scotland's sake." 

So grooms, lords, and knights fought all alike,
And hard blows for bonnie Scotland they did strike,
And swords and spears loudly did clatter,
And innocent blood did flow like water. 

But alas! the king and his nobles fought in vain,
And by an English ...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz
...off.

They'd all taken boats to go fishing, 
When some chap in t' Conqueror's ear
Said 'Let's go and put breeze up the Saxons;' 
Said Bill - 'By gum, that's an idea.'

Then turning around to his soldiers, 
He lifted his big Nonnan voice,
Shouting - 'Hands up who's coming to England.' 
That was swank 'cos they hadn't no choice.

They started away about tea-time - 
The sea was so calm and so still,
And at quarter to ten the next morning 
They arrived at a place called Bexhill....Read more of this...
by Edgar, Marriott
...low and lonely cell.
     By many a bard in Celtic tongue
     Has Coir-nan-Uriskin been sung
     A softer name the Saxons gave,
     And called the grot the Goblin Cave.
     XXVI.

     It was a wild and strange retreat,
     As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet.
     The dell, upon the mountain's crest,
     Yawned like a gash on warrior's breast;
     Its trench had stayed full many a rock,
     Hurled by primeval earthquake shock
     From Benvenue's gray summ...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter
...
And thy mouth as full of song. 

Pioneer of Erin's outcasts 
With his fiddle and his pack- 
Little dreamed the village Saxons 
Of the myriads at his back. 

How he wrought with spade and fiddle, 
Delved by day and sang by night, 
With a hand that never wearied 
And a heart forever light,--- 

Still the gay tradition mingles 
With a record grave and drear 
Like the rollic air of Cluny 
With the solemn march of Mear. 

When the box-tree, white with blossoms, 
Made the sweet Ma...Read more of this...
by Whittier, John Greenleaf
...an's dexterous
horse-race;
It is a caravan, whitening the desert where dwell the Camanches!
Ha! how the breath of these Saxons and Celts, like the blast of
the east-wind,
Drifts evermore to the west the scanty smokes of thy wigwams!...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...

The good Winfreda of those days
Is only "pretty Birdie" now--
Sickly her soul and weak her ways--
And she, to whom we Saxons bow,
Leaps on a bench and screams with fright
If but a mouse creeps into sight....Read more of this...
by Field, Eugene

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry