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Famous Seaside Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Edgar, Marriott
...There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool,
That's noted for fresh air and fun,
And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom
Went there with young Albert, their son.

A grand little lad was young Albert,
All dressed in his best; quite a swell
With a stick with an 'orse's 'ead 'andle,
The finest that Woolworth's could sell.

They didn't think much of the Ocean:
The waves, they were...Read more of this...



by Whitman, Walt
...rumpet-voice, the proud victory of the Union, in that secession war? 
Can your performance face the open fields and the seaside? 
Will it absorb into me as I absorb food, air—to appear again in my strength, gait,
 face? 
Have real employments contributed to it? original makers—not mere amanuenses? 
Does it meet modern discoveries, calibers, facts face to face?
What does it mean to me? to American persons, progresses, cities? Chicago, Kanada,
 Arkansas?
 the planter, Yankee, G...Read more of this...

by Hugo, Victor
...
 ("Vieux lierre, frais gazon.") 
 
 {XXXVIII., 1840.} 


 Brown ivy old, green herbage new; 
 Soft seaweed stealing up the shingle; 
 An ancient chapel where a crew, 
 Ere sailing, in the prayer commingle. 
 A far-off forest's darkling frown, 
 Which makes the prudent start and tremble, 
 Whilst rotten nuts are rattling down, 
 And clou...Read more of this...

by McGonagall, William Topaz
...pass on either side
Without jostling one another
Or going to any bother. 

Beautiful town of Montrose, near by the seaside,
With your fine shops and streets so wide,
'Tis health for the people that in you reside,
Because they do inhale the pure fragrant air,
Emanating from the sea waves and shrubberies growing there;
And the inhabitants of Montrose ought to feel gay,
Because you are one of the bonniest towns in Scotland at the present day....Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...pring,
But when summer came in with a heat wave,
T' were a totally different thing.

He moved his court down to the seaside,
Where they took off their shoes and their socks,
And rushed to the water and left him,
Alone on his throne on the rocks.

Said one, "Come on King, have a paddle,
I'll look after your sceptre and crown."
He replied, "Nay, I promised the missus,
And I can't let the old... lady down."

"No need to do that," said the Tempter,
"Th...Read more of this...



by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...y paced and slow, as if conscious of human affection.
Then came the shepherd back with his bleating flocks from the seaside,
Where was their favorite pasture. Behind them followed the watch-dog,
Patient, full of importance, and grand in the pride of his instinct,
Walking from side to side with a lordly air, and superbly
Waving his bushy tail, and urging forward the stragglers;
Regent of flocks was he when the shepherd slept; their protector,
When from the forest at ni...Read more of this...

by Holmes, Oliver Wendell
...estowing!
Her fountain heeds little the goblet we hold;
Alike, when its musical waters are flowing, 
The shell from the seaside, the chalice of gold.

The twins of the lyre to her voices had listened;
Both laid their best gifts upon Liberty's shrine;
For Coila's loved minstrel the holly~wreath glistened;
For Erin's the rose and the myrtle entwine.

And while the fresh blossoms of summer are braided
For the sea-girdled, stream-silvered, lake-jewelled isle,
While her ma...Read more of this...

by Kendall, Henry
...been abroad - 
An evil hand to pluck the flowers - 
A world of wealth, 
And blooming health 
Has gone from fragrant seaside bowers. 
The twilight waxeth dim and dark, 

The sad waves mutter sounds of woe, 
But the evergreen retains its sheen, 
And happy hearts exist below; 
But pleasure sparkles on the sward, 
And voices utter words of bliss, 
And while my bride 
Sits by my side, 
Oh, where's the scene surpassing this? 


Kiama slumbers, robed with mist, 
Al...Read more of this...

by McGonagall, William Topaz
...pass on either side
Without jostling one another or going to any bother. 

Beautiful town of Montrose, near by the seaside,
With your fine shops and streets so wide,
'Tis health for the people that in you reside,
Because they do inhale the pure fragrant air,
Emanating from the pure salt wave and shrubberies growing there;
And the inhabitants of Montrose ought to feel gay,
Because it is one of the bonniest towns in Scotland at the present day....Read more of this...

by Kendall, Henry
...'' 


But the Spirit answers nothing! and the dazzling mantle fades; 
And a wailing whisper wanders out from dismal seaside shades! 
``Lo, the trees are moaning loudly, underneath their hood-like shrouds, 
And the arch above us darkens, scarred with ragged thunder clouds!'' 
But the spirit answers nothing, and I linger all alone, 
Gazing through the moony vapours where the lovely Dream has flown; 

And my heart is beating sadly, and the music waxeth faint, 
Sailing...Read more of this...

by Lindsay, Vachel
...udgment — 
Its clasps were iron and stone, 
Its leaves were mammoth ivory, 
Its boards were mammoth bone, — 
Hid in her seaside mountains, 
Forgotten or unkept, 
Beneath its mighty covers 
Her wrath against me slept. 
And deeply I repented 
Of brash and boyish crime, 
Of murder of things lovely 
Now and in olden time. 
I cursed my vain ambition, 
My would-be worldly days, 
And craved the paths of wonder, 
Of dewy dawns and fays. 
I cried, "Our love was boundless, ...Read more of this...

by Brooke, Rupert
...Swiftly out from the friendly lilt of the band,
The crowd's good laughter, the loved eyes of men,
I am drawn nightward; I must turn again
Where, down beyond the low untrodden strand,
There curves and glimmers outward to the unknown
The old unquiet ocean. All the shade
Is rife with magic and movement. I stray alone
Here on the edge of silence, half ...Read more of this...

by Betjeman, John
...How straight it flew, how long it flew,
It clear'd the rutty track
And soaring, disappeared from view
Beyond the bunker's back -
A glorious, sailing, bounding drive
That made me glad I was alive.

And down the fairway, far along
It glowed a lonely white;
I played an iron sure and strong
And clipp'd it out of sight,
And spite of grassy banks between
I k...Read more of this...

by Sexton, Anne
...wasn't exactly forgiven. They had my portrait
done instead.

3.

All that summer sprinklers arched
over the seaside grass.
We talked of drought
while the salt-parched
field grew sweet again. To help time pass
I tried to mow the lawn
and in the morning I had my portrait done,
holding my smile in place, till it grew formal.
Once I mailed you a picture of a rabbit
and a postcard of Motif number one,
as if it were normal
to be a mother and be gone.

Th...Read more of this...

by Edgar, Marriott
...There's a famous seaside place called Blackpool,
That's noted for fresh air and fun,
And Mr and Mrs Ramsbottom
Went there with young Albert, their son.

A grand little lad was young Albert,
All dressed in his best; quite a swell
With a stick with an 'orse's 'ead 'andle,
The finest that Woolworth's could sell.

They didn't think much of the Ocean:
The waves, they were...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...TO the East and to the West; 
To the man of the Seaside State, and of Pennsylvania, 
To the Kanadian of the North—to the Southerner I love; 
These, with perfect trust, to depict you as myself—the germs are in all men; 
I believe the main purport of These States is to found a superb friendship, exalté,
 previously unknown,
Because I perceive it waits, and has been always waiting, latent in all men....Read more of this...

by Gregory, Rg
...to the seaside
to the seaside
to the change and peace of mind
to the easy la-
zy holiday
the leave-it-all-behind

to the seaside
to the sunshine
to the body-littered sands
to the deckchairs
and the funfairs
and the burst-your-ears brass bands

to the ice-cream
to the wasp-stings
to the sand-in-every-meal
to the castles
and the donkeys
and the plates of jellied eel
...Read more of this...

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things