Famous Shelving Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Dream of the Unknown

...enly was changed to spring, 
And gentle odours led my steps astray, 
Mix'd with a sound of waters murmuring 
Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay 5 
Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling 
Its green arms round the bosom of the stream, 
But kiss'd it and then fled, as thou mightest in dream. 

There grew pied wind-flowers and violets, 
Daisies, those pearl'd Arcturi of the earth, 10 
The constellated flower that never sets; 
Faint oxlips; tender bluebells, at ...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe


Bride of Abydos The

...there be mark'd; nor far remote 
A broken torch, an oarless boat; 
And tangled on the weeds that heap 
The beach where shelving to the deep 
There lies a white capote! 
'Tis rent in twain — one dark-red stain 
The wave yet ripples o'er in vain: 
But where is he who wore? 
Ye! who would o'er his relics weep, 
Go, seek them where the surges sweep 
Their burthen round Sig?um's steep, 
And cast on Lemnos' shore: 
The sea-birds shriek above the prey, 
O'er which their hungry beak...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Dream Song 73: Karensui Ryoan-ji

...t helicopters or a Brooklyn reproduction
will fix that-”

and the fifteen changeless stones in their five worlds
with a shelving of moving moss
stand me the thought of the ancient maker priest.
Elsewhere occurs-”I remember-”loss.
Through awes & weathers neither it increased
nor did one blow of all his stone & sand thought die....Read more of this...
by Berryman, John

Endymion: Book III

...'s voice,
And if it came at last, hark, and rejoice!
There blush'd no summer eve but I would steer
My skiff along green shelving coasts, to hear
The shepherd's pipe come clear from aery steep,
Mingled with ceaseless bleatings of his sheep:
And never was a day of summer shine,
But I beheld its birth upon the brine:
For I would watch all night to see unfold
Heaven's gates, and Aethon snort his morning gold
Wide o'er the swelling streams: and constantly
At brim of day-tide, on s...Read more of this...
by Keats, John

Everything In Its Place

...nite black ooze and sap.



And I don’t trust that corner cupboard!

Opening its dark doors like the jaws of

Cerberus, shelving its stacks to heave

At my head, ready to snap its quick lock

Round my wrist like a crab.



I watch the windows wink and blink,

Tug at their catches, tempt my fingers

With their openings, crack flying cords

To noose my neck; they eye the bulging roof

Beams, bent like a bow above me.



This whole room has rushed to the world’s edge,

My finger...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry


Ryton Firs

...e down to earth and blossoms here,
And we have golden minds.
From out the long shade of a road high-bankt,
I came on shelving fields;
And from my feet cascading,
Streaming down the land,
Flickering lavish of daffodils flowed and fell;
Like sunlight on a water thrill'd with haste,
Such clear pale quivering flame,
But a flame even more marvellously yellow.
And all the way to Ryton here I walkt
Ankle-deep in light.
It was as if the world had just begun;
And in a min...Read more of this...
by Abercrombie, Lascelles

The Bride of Abydos

...there be mark'd; nor far remote 
A broken torch, an oarless boat; 
And tangled on the weeds that heap 
The beach where shelving to the deep 
There lies a white capote! 
'Tis rent in twain — one dark-red stain 
The wave yet ripples o'er in vain: 
But where is he who wore? 
Ye! who would o'er his relics weep, 
Go, seek them where the surges sweep 
Their burthen round Sig?um's steep, 
And cast on Lemnos' shore: 
The sea-birds shriek above the prey, 
O'er which their hungry beak...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Question

...r suddenly was changed to Spring,
And gentle odours led my steps astray,
Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring
Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay
Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling
Its green arms round the bosom of the stream,
But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightest in dream.

There grew pied wind-flowers and violets,
Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth,
The constellated flower that never sets;
Faint oxlips; tender bluebells, at whose birth
The sod ...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe

The Sea-Child

...he stands and mocks
The seamew’s cry on the jutting rocks. 

Few years have wan’d—and now he stands 
Bareheaded on the shelving sands. 
A boat is moor’d, but his young hands cope 
Right well with the twisted cable rope;
He frees the craft, she kisses the tide; 
The boy has climb’d her beaten side: 
She drifts—she floats—he shouts with glee; 
His soul hath claim’d its right on the sea. 

’T is vain to tell him the howling breath
Rides over the waters with wreck and death: 
He...Read more of this...
by Cook, Eliza

The Voices in the Dream (Ryton Firs)

...e down to earth and blossoms here,
And we have golden minds.
From out the long shade of a road high-bankt,
I came on shelving fields;
And from my feet cascading,
Streaming down the land,
Flickering lavish of daffodils flowed and fell;
Like sunlight on a water thrill'd with haste,
Such clear pale quivering flame,
But a flame even more marvellously yellow.
And all the way to Ryton here I walkt
Ankle-deep in light.
It was as if the world had just begun;
And in a min...Read more of this...
by Abercrombie, Lascelles

Thus the Mayne glideth

...es 
Its gentle way through strangling rushes 
Where the glossy kingfisher 
Flutters when noon-heats are near, 
Glad the shelving banks to shun, 
Red and steaming in the sun, 
Where the shrew-mouse with pale throat 
Burrows, and the speckled stoat; 
Where the quick sandpipers flit 
In and out the marl and grit 
That seems to breed them, brown as they: 
Naught disturbs its quiet way, 
Save some lazy stork that springs, 
Trailing it with legs and wings, 
Whom the shy fox from th...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

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