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Famous Seeing Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Keats, John
...e awake
Night after night, and day by day, until
Of the empyrean I have drunk my fill.
Let it content thee, Sister, seeing me
More happy than betides mortality.
A hermit young, I'll live in mossy cave,
Where thou alone shalt come to me, and lave
Thy spirit in the wonders I shall tell.
Through me the shepherd realm shall prosper well;
For to thy tongue will I all health confide.
And, for my sake, let this young maid abide
With thee as a dear sister. Thou al...Read more of this...



by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...ear of existence;
But as a traveller follows a streamlet's course through the valley:
Far from its margin at times, and seeing the gleam of its water
Here and there, in some open space, and at intervals only;
Then drawing nearer its banks, through sylvan glooms that conceal it,
Though he behold it not, he can hear its continuous murmur;
Happy, at length, if he find the spot where it reaches an outlet.



II

It was the month of May. Far down the Beautiful River,
Past ...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...te peak
His bright feet touch'd, and there he stay'd to view
The misery his brilliance had betray'd
To the most hateful seeing of itself.
Golden his hair of short Numidian curl,
Regal his shape majestic, a vast shade
In midst of his own brightness, like the bulk
Of Memnon's image at the set of sun
To one who travels from the dusking East:
Sighs, too, as mournful as that Memnon's harp
He utter'd, while his hands contemplative
He press'd together, and in silence stood.
...Read more of this...

by St Vincent Millay, Edna
...on them, while they watched my face;
And then they fell a-whispering as before;
So that I smiled at them and left them, seeing she was not there.
I sought her, too,
Among the upper gods, although I knew
She was not like to be where feasting is,
Nor near to Heaven's lord,
Being a thing abhorred
And shunned of him, although a child of his,
(Not yours, not yours; to you she owes not breath,
Mother of Song, being sown of Zeus upon a dream of Death).
Fearing to pass unvisi...Read more of this...

by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...ier time
Could be decreed for a good man to vanish 
Than about now for you, before you fade, 
And even your friends are seeing that you have had 
Your cup too full for longer mortal triumph. 
Well, you have had enough, and had it young;
And the old wine is nearer to the lees 
Than you are to the work that you are doing. 

HAMILTON

When does this philological excursion 
Into new lands and languages begin? 

BURR

Anon—that is, already. Only Fortune
Gave me this af...Read more of this...



by Milton, John
...will come unsought. 
Wouldst thou approve thy constancy, approve 
First thy obedience; the other who can know, 
Not seeing thee attempted, who attest? 
But, if thou think, trial unsought may find 
Us both securer than thus warned thou seemest, 
Go; for thy stay, not free, absents thee more; 
Go in thy native innocence, rely 
On what thou hast of virtue; summon all! 
For God towards thee hath done his part, do thine. 
So spake the patriarch of mankind; but Eve 
Persist...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...how the horses are.”

“Yes, do,”
Both the Coles said together. Mrs. Cole
Added: “You can judge better after seeing.—
I want you here with me, Fred. Leave him here,
Brother Meserve. You know to find your way
Out through the shed.”

“I guess I know my way,
I guess I know where I can find my name
Carved in the shed to tell me who I am
If it don’t tell me where I am. I used
To play—”

“You tend your horses and come back.
Fred Cole, you’re going...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...You, Earth and Life, till the last ray gleams, I sing. 

Open mouth of my Soul, uttering gladness,
Eyes of my Soul, seeing perfection, 
Natural life of me, faithfully praising things; 
Corroborating forever the triumph of things. 

Illustrious every one! 
Illustrious what we name space—sphere of unnumber’d spirits;
Illustrious the mystery of motion, in all beings, even the tiniest insect; 
Illustrious the attribute of speech—the senses—the body; 
Illustrious the passi...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...e head and heart; 
Copulation is no more rank to me than death is. 

I believe in the flesh and the appetites; 
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me is a
 miracle. 

Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch’d
 from;
The scent of these arm-pits, aroma finer than prayer; 
This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds. 

If I worship one thing more than another, it shall be the spre...Read more of this...

by Chesterton, G K
...his earth most pitiful,
This little land I know,
If that which is for ever is,
Or if our hearts shall break with bliss,
Seeing the stranger go?

"When our last bow is broken, Queen,
And our last javelin cast,
Under some sad, green evening sky,
Holding a ruined cross on high,
Under warm westland grass to lie,
Shall we come home at last?"

And a voice came human but high up,
Like a cottage climbed among
The clouds; or a serf of hut and croft
That sits by his hovel fire as oft,
...Read more of this...

by Blake, William
...till He devours the body of clay; 
For dust and clay is the Serpent’s meat, 
Which never was made for Man to eat. 

Seeing this False Christ, in fury and passion 
I made my voice heard all over the nation. 
What are those… 

I am sure this Jesus will not do, 
Either for Englishman or Jew....Read more of this...

by Masefield, John
...sky and earth seemed mad as hatters; 
they had a death look, wild and odd, 
Of something dark foretold by God. 
And seeing it so, I felt so shaken 
I wouldn't keep the road I'd taken, 
But wandered back towards the inn 
Resolved to brace myself with gin. 
And as I walked, I said, "It's strange, 
There's Death let loose to-night, and Change." 

In Cabbage Walk, I made a haul 
Of two big pears from lawyer's wall, 
And, munching one, I took the lane 
Back into Market...Read more of this...

by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...e of all our company, I boast,
But now would mock my penning, could they see
How down the right it maps a jagged coast;
Seeing they hold the manlier praise to be
Strong hand and will, and the heart best when most
'Tis sober, simple, true, and fancy-free. 

12
How could I quarrel or blame you, most dear,
Who all thy virtues gavest and kept back none;
Kindness and gentleness, truth without peer,
And beauty that my fancy fed upon?
Now not my life's contrition for my fault
Ca...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...d with dreams of something sweet 
Beyond all sweetness in a life so rich,-- 
Ah, blessd Lord, I speak too earthlywise, 
Seeing I never strayed beyond the cell, 
But live like an old badger in his earth, 
With earth about him everywhere, despite 
All fast and penance. Saw ye none beside, 
None of your knights?' 

`Yea so,' said Percivale: 
`One night my pathway swerving east, I saw 
The pelican on the casque of our Sir Bors 
All in the middle of the rising moon: 
And towar...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...agaciously nodding his head,
 Said "That must depend on the weather."

The Beaver went simply galumphing about,
 At seeing the Butcher so shy:
And even the Baker, though stupid and stout,
 Made an effort to wink with one eye.

"Be a man!" said the Bellman in wrath, as he heard
 The Butcher beginning to sob.
"Should we meet with a Jubjub, that desperate bird,
 We shall need all our strength for the job!"


FIT V.--THE BEAVER'S LESSON.

Fit the Fifth.

T...Read more of this...

by Poe, Edgar Allan
...meaning¡ªlittle relevancy bore; 50 
For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being 
Ever yet was blessed with seeing bird above his chamber door, 
Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door, 
With such name as "Nevermore." 

But the Raven, sitting lonely on the placid bust, spoke only 55 
That one word, as if his soul in that one word he did outpour. 
Nothing further then he uttered, not a feather then he fluttered, 
Till I scarcely...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...he watch, he spoke to her:
"Lady, Beautiful Shadow, stir
Into one brief sign of being.
Turn your eyes this way, and seeing
This watch, made from those sweet curves
Where your hair from your forehead swerves,
Accept the gift which I have wrought
With your fairness in my thought.
Grant me this, and I shall be
Honoured overwhelmingly."
The Shadow rested black and still,
And the wind sighed over the window-sill.

Paul put the despised watch away
And laid out befor...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...l be again, the following poem would not have been written. It is not impossible that it may be as good as his own, seeing that it cannot, by any species of stupidity, natural or acquired, be worse. The gross flattery, the dull impudence, the renegado intolerance, and impious cant, of the poem by the author if 'Wat Tyler,' are something so stupendous as to form the sublime of himself — containing the quintessence of his own attributes. 

So much for his poem — a w...Read more of this...

by Miller, Alice Duer
...eaves at break of day; 
It will be gone when this is in your hands. 
I've had enough of lovely foreign lands, 
Sightseeing, strangers, holiday and play; 
I'm going home to those who think the way
I think, and speak as I do. Will you try 
To understand that this must be good-bye? 
We both rooted deeply in the soil 
Of our own countries. But I could not spoil 
Our happy memories with the stress and strain
Of parting; if we never meet again
Be sure I shall remember t...Read more of this...

by Akhmatova, Anna
...a sail
Those special, pure hours
And the winds of May fly over
You past the iron beams
You are like a dying sinner
Seeing heavenly dreams



x x x

Ancient city is as if dead,
Strange's my coming here.
Vladimir has raised a black cross
Over the river.
Noisy elm trees, noisy lindens
In the gardens dark,
Raised to God, the needle-bearing
Stars' bright diamond sparks.
Sacrificial and glorious
Way, I am ending here,
With me is but you, my equal,...Read more of this...

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