Famous Shown Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Beowulf (Modern English)

...r wit might avail you. (ll. 574-89)

“I say something else that’s true, son of Ecglaf,
that Grendel never would have shown so many terrors,
that fearsome fighter, to your own prince,
such shame in Heorot, if your spirit, your heart,
was as cleverly pointed as you hold yourself—
but he has discovered that he need not fear much
the feuds of your people —Victory-Scyldings—
nor their fearsome onrush of their blades.
He extorts tribute, is merciful to none
of the Danish...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,


Beowulf (Old English)

...were easy to find who elsewhere sought
in room remote their rest at night,
bed in the bowers, {2a} when that bale was shown,
was seen in sooth, with surest token, --
the hall-thane’s {2b} hate. Such held themselves
far and fast who the fiend outran!
Thus ruled unrighteous and raged his fill
one against all; until empty stood
that lordly building, and long it bode so.
Twelve years’ tide the trouble he bore,
sovran of Scyldings, sorrows in plenty,
boundless cares. Th...Read more of this...
by Anonymous,

Comus

...let slip time, like a neglected rose
It withers on the stalk with languished head.
Beauty is Nature's brag, and must be shown
In courts, at feasts, and high solemnities,
Where most may wonder at the workmanship.
It is for homely features to keep home;
They had their name thence: coarse complexions
And cheeks of sorry grain will serve to ply
The sampler, and to tease the huswife's wool.
What need a vermeil-tinctured lip for that,
Love-darting eyes, or tresses like the morn?
Th...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Courage

...s of the roses
and was transformed.

Later,
when you face old age and its natural conclusion
your courage will still be shown in the little ways,
each spring will be a sword you'll sharpen,
those you love will live in a fever of love,
and you'll bargain with the calendar
and at the last moment
when death opens the back door
you'll put on your carpet slippers
and stride out....Read more of this...
by Sexton, Anne

Custer

...l the triumphs, and bemoan the end
Of that true hero, lover, son and friend
Whose faithful heart in his last choice was shown-
Death with the comrades dear, refusing flight alone.

IV.

He who was born for battle and for strife
Like some caged eagle frets in peaceful life; 
So Custer fretted when detained afar
From scenes of stirring action and of war.
And as the captive eagle in delight, 
When freedom offers, plumes himself for flight
And soars away to thunder clouds on high...Read more of this...
by Wilcox, Ella Wheeler


Eviradnus

...briers and thistles, the old tower 
 Remains triumphant through the darkest hour; 
 Superb as pontiff, in the forest shown, 
 Its rows of battlements make triple crown; 
 At eve, its silhouette is finely traced 
 Immense and black—showing the Keep is placed 
 On rocky throne, sublime and high; east, west, 
 And north and south, at corners four, there rest 
 Four mounts; Aptar, where flourishes the pine, 
 And Toxis, where the elms grow green and fine; 
 Crobius and...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor

Identity

...ngs with bumblebees
by summer windowsills:

   I will show you
the underlying that takes no image to itself,
 cannot be shown or said,
but weaves in and out of moons and bladderweeds,
   is all and
 beyond destruction
 because created fully in no
particular form:

   if the web were perfectly pre-set,
   the spider could
  never find
  a perfect place to set it in: and

   if the web were
perfectly adaptable,
if freedom and possibility were without limit,
   the web would
los...Read more of this...
by Ammons, A R

Lara

...od; and take from earth 
No gift beyond that bitter boon — our birth. 

XXVII. 

If aught he loved, 'twas Lara; but was shown 
His faith in reverence and in deeds alone; 
In mute attention; and his care, which guess'd 
Each wish, fulfill'd it ere the tongue express'd. 
Still there was haughtiness in all he did, 
A spirit deep that brook'd not to be chid; 
His zeal, though more than that of servile hands, 
In act alone obeys, his air commands; 
As if 'twas Lara's less than /hi...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Last Instructions to a Painter

...phers, 'twas there, they thought, 
Where Venice twenty years the Turk had fought, 
While the first year our navy is but shown, 
The next divided, and the third we've none. 
They, by the name, mistook it for that isle 
Where Pilgrim Palmer travelled in exile 
With the bull's horn to measure his own head 
And on Pasipha?'s tomb to drop a bead. 
But Morice learn'd dem?nstrates, by the post, 
This Isle of Candy was on Essex' coast. 

Fresh messengers still the sad news assure; 
M...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Love's Growth

...r, but more eminent,
   Love by the spring is grown;
   As, in the firmament,
Stars by the sun are not enlarged, but shown,
Gentle love deeds, as blossoms on a bough,
From love’s awakened root do bud out now.

If, as water stirred more circles be
Produced by one, love such additions take,
Those, like so many spheres, but one heaven make,
For they are all concentric unto thee;
And though each spring do add to love new heat,
As princes do in time of action get
New ...Read more of this...
by Donne, John

Mementos

...dow, hither, 
At twilight, when the sun was down, 
And Fear, my very soul would wither, 
Lest something should be dimly shown. 

Too much the buried form resembling, 
Of her who once was mistress here; 
Lest doubtful shade, or moonbeam trembling, 
Might take her aspect, once so dear. 

Hers was this chamber; in her time 
It seemed to me a pleasant room, 
For then no cloud of grief or crime 
Had cursed it with a settled gloom; 

I had not seen death's image laid 
In shroud and...Read more of this...
by Bronte, Charlotte

Monadnoc

...liberal hours
Which thawed the snow-drift into flowers.
O wondrous craft of plant and stone
By eldest science done and shown!
Happy, I said, whose home is here,
Fair fortunes to the mountaineer!
Boon nature to his poorest shed
Has royal pleasure-grounds outspread.
Intent I searched the region round,
And in low hut my monarch found.
He was no eagle and no earl,
Alas! my foundling was a churl,
With heart of cat, and eyes of bug,
Dull victim of his pipe and mug;
Woe is me for m...Read more of this...
by Emerson, Ralph Waldo

Paradise Lost: Book 04

...now 
To trample thee as mire: For proof look up, 
And read thy lot in yon celestial sign; 
Where thou art weighed, and shown how light, how weak, 
If thou resist. The Fiend looked up, and knew 
His mounted scale aloft: Nor more;but fled 
Murmuring, and with him fled the shades of night....Read more of this...
by Milton, John

The Bride of Abydos

...'s bride: 
But had not thine own lips declared 
How much of that young heart I shared, 
I could not, must not, yet have shown 
The darker secret of my own. 
In this I speak not now of love; 
That, let time, truth, and peril prove: 
But first — oh! never wed another — 
Zuleika! I am not thy brother!" 

XI. 

"Oh! not my brother! — yet unsay — 
God! am I left alone on earth 
To mourn — I dare not curse the day 
That saw my solitary birth? 
Oh! thou wilt love me now no more! 
My...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Cremona Violin

...g their coachmen's names; forced to retreat
A pace or two by lurching chairmen; thrown
Rudely aside by linkboys; boldly shown
The ogling rapture in two bleary eyes
Thrust close to hers in most unpleasant wise.
Escaping these, she hit a liveried arm,
Was sworn at by this glittering gentleman
And ordered off. However, no great harm
Came to her. But she looked a trifle wan
When Theodore, her belated guardian,
Emerged. She snuggled up against him, trembling,
Half out of fear, hal...Read more of this...
by Lowell, Amy

The Holy Grail

...ndered mystically, 
And thence departed every one his way. 

`And I was lifted up in heart, and thought 
Of all my late-shown prowess in the lists, 
How my strong lance had beaten down the knights, 
So many and famous names; and never yet 
Had heaven appeared so blue, nor earth so green, 
For all my blood danced in me, and I knew 
That I should light upon the Holy Grail. 

`Thereafter, the dark warning of our King, 
That most of us would follow wandering fires, 
Came like a d...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Lady of the Lake

...Now, truce, farewell! and, rush, begone!—
     Yet think not that by thee alone,
     Proud Chief! can courtesy be shown;
     Though not from copse, or heath, or cairn,
     Start at my whistle clansmen stern,
     Of this small horn one feeble blast
     Would fearful odds against thee cast.
     But fear not—doubt not—which thou wilt—
     We try this quarrel hilt to hilt.'
     Then each at once his falchion drew,
     Each on the ground his scabbard threw
 ...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Medal

...
The Polish Medal bears the prize alone; 
A monster, more the favourite of the town 
Than either fairs or theatres have shown. 
Never did art so well with nature strive, 
Nor ever idol seemed so much alive; 
So like the man, so golden to the sight, 
So base within, so counterfeit and light. 
One side is filled with title and with face; 
And, lest the king should want a regal place, 
On the reverse a tower the town surveys, 
O'er which our mounting sun his beams displays. 
The...Read more of this...
by Dryden, John

The Vision of Judgment

...
All this is much, and most upon a throne; 
As temperance, if at Apicius' board, 
Is more than at an anchorite's supper shown. 
I grant him all the kindest can accord; 
And this was well for him, but not for those 
Millions who found him what oppression chose. 

XLVII 

'The New World shook him off; the Old yet groans 
Beneath what he and his prepared, if not 
Completed: he leaves heirs on many thrones 
To all his vices, without what begot 
Compassion for him — his tame virtu...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

White Flock

...itter love.

The subject of my prayers
Were you, moody, calm, and austere.
There first the groom came to me
Having shown me the pathway holy,
And that sad muse of mine
Led me like one blind.


 * II * 


December 9, 1913
The darkest days of the year
Must become the most clear.
I can't find words to compare -
Your lips are so tender and dear.

Only to raise your eyes do not dare,
Keeping the life of me.
They're lighter than vials premier,
And deadlier...Read more of this...
by Akhmatova, Anna

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