Famous Serenade Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Colored Band

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Wen de colo'ed ban' comes ma'chin' down de street,
Don't you people stan' daih starin'; lif yo' feet!
Ain't dey playin'? Hip, hooray!
Stir yo' stumps an' cleah de way,
Fu' de music dat dey mekin' can't be beat.
Oh, de major man's a-swingin' of his stick,
An' de pickaninnies crowdin' roun' him thick;
In his go'geous uniform,
He 's de lightnin' of de sto'm,
An' de little clouds...Read more of this...

The Trumpeter an Old English Tale

by Mary Darby Robinson
 It was in the days of a gay British King
(In the old fashion'd custom of merry-making)
The Palace of Woodstock with revels did ring,
While they sang and carous'd--one and all:
For the monarch a plentiful treasury had,
And his Courtiers were pleas'd, and no visage was sad,
And the knavish and foolish with drinking were mad,
While they sat in the Banquetting hall.

Some talk'd...Read more of this...

The Students Serenade

by Anne Bronte
 I have slept upon my couch,
But my spirit did not rest,
For the labours of the day
Yet my weary soul opprest; 
And, before my dreaming eyes
Still the learned volumes lay,
And I could not close their leaves,
And I could not turn away. 

But I oped my eyes at last,
And I heard a muffled sound;
'Twas the night-breeze, come to say
That the snow...Read more of this...

Poor Marguerite

by Mary Darby Robinson
 Swift, o'er the wild and dreary waste
A NUT-BROWN GIRL was seen to haste;
Wide waving was her unbound hair,
And sun-scorch'd was her bosom bare;
For Summer's noon had shed its beams
While she lay wrapp'd in fev'rish dreams;
While, on the wither'd hedge-row's side,
By turns she slept, by turns she cried,
"Ah ! where lies hid the balsam sweet,
"To heal the wounds of MARGUERITE?"

Dark...Read more of this...

Serenade

by Edgar Allan Poe
 So sweet the hour, so calm the time,
I feel it more than half a crime,
When Nature sleeps and stars are mute,
To mar the silence ev'n with lute.
At rest on ocean's brilliant dyes
An image of Elysium lies:
Seven Pleiades entranced in Heaven,
Form in the deep another seven:
Endymion nodding from above
Sees in the sea a second love.
Within the valleys dim and brown,
And...Read more of this...

A Serenade

by Sir Walter Scott
 Ah! County Guy, the hour is nigh 
The sun has left the lea, 
The orange-flower perfumes the bower, 
The breeze is on the sea. 
The lark, his lay who trill’d all day, 
Sits hush’d his partner nigh; 
Breeze, bird, and flower confess the hour, 
But where is County Guy? 

The village maid steals through the shade 
Her shepherd’s suit...Read more of this...

Toilet Seats

by Robert William Service
 While I am emulating Keats
My brother fabrics toilet seats,
The which, they say, are works of art,
Aesthetic features of the mart;
So exquisitely are they made
With plastic of a pastel shade,
Of topaz, ivory or rose,
Inviting to serene repose.

Rajahs I'm told have seats of gold,--
(They must, I fear, be very cold).
But Tom's have thermostatic heat,
With sympathy your grace to greet.
Like silver they...Read more of this...

Nora: A Serenade

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Ah, Nora, my Nora, the light fades away,
While Night like a spirit steals up o'er the hills;
The thrush from his tree where he chanted all day,
No longer his music in ecstasy trills.
Then, Nora, be near me; thy presence doth cheer me,
Thine eye hath a gleam that is truer than gold.
I cannot but love thee; so do not reprove me,
Read more of this...

The Indian Serenade

by Percy Bysshe Shelley
I ARISE from dreams of thee 
In the first sweet sleep of night, 
When the winds are breathing low, 
And the stars are shining bright. 
I arise from dreams of thee, 5 
And a spirit in my feet 
Hath led me¡ªwho knows how? 
To thy chamber window, Sweet! 

The wandering airs they faint 
On the dark, the silent stream¡ª 10...Read more of this...

While The Bannock Bakes

by Robert William Service
 Light up your pipe again, old chum, and sit awhile with me;
I've got to watch the bannock bake -- how restful is the air!
You'd little think that we were somewhere north of Sixty-three,
Though where I don't exactly know, and don't precisely care.
The man-size mountains palisade us round on every side;
The river is a-flop with fish, and ripples silver-clear;
The midnight...Read more of this...

Serenade

by Victor Hugo
 ("Quand tu chantes.") 


 When the voice of thy lute at the eve 
 Charmeth the ear, 
 In the hour of enchantment believe 
 What I murmur near. 
 That the tune can the Age of Gold 
 With its magic restore. 
 Play on, play on, my fair one, 
 Play on for evermore. 
 
 When...Read more of this...

A Serenade At The Villa

by Robert Browning
 I.

That was I, you heard last night,
When there rose no moon at all,
Nor, to pierce the strained and tight
Tent of heaven, a planet small:
Life was dead and so was light.

II.

Not a twinkle from the fly,
Not a glimmer from the worm;
When the crickets stopped their cry,
When the owls forbore a term,
You heard music; that was I.

III.

Earth turned in her sleep...Read more of this...

Luna Lake Haiku

by Adrian Green
 New moon on the lake.
Your voice and the nightingale 
serenade springtime. 
Full moon on the lake. 
Your voice and the waterbirds 
celebrate summer. 
Old moon on the lake. 
Owls hunting autumnal food -
your voice still singing....Read more of this...

Serenade (For Music)

by Oscar Wilde
 The western wind is blowing fair
Across the dark AEgean sea,
And at the secret marble stair
My Tyrian galley waits for thee.
Come down! the purple sail is spread,
The watchman sleeps within the town,
O leave thy lily-flowered bed,
O Lady mine come down, come down!

She will not come, I know her well,
Of lover's vows she hath no care,
And little good a man can...Read more of this...

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