Famous Smoother Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Celebration of Charis: IV. Her Triumph

...ve's world compriseth!
Do but look on her hair, it is bright
As Love's star when it riseth!
Do but mark, her forehead's smoother
Than words that soothe her;
And from her arched brows, such a grace
Sheds itself through the face
As alone there triumphs to the life
All the gain, all the good, of the elements' strife.

Have you seen but a bright lily grow,
Before rude hands have touch'd it?
Ha' you mark'd but the fall o' the snow
Before the soil hath smutch'd it?
Ha' you felt the...Read more of this...
by Jonson, Ben


An Essay On Criticism

...fence,
The Sound must seem an Eccho to the Sense.
Soft is the Strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth Stream in smoother Numbers flows;
But when loud Surges lash the sounding Shore,
The hoarse, rough Verse shou'd like the Torrent roar.
When Ajax strives, some Rocks' vast Weight to throw,
The Line too labours, and the Words move slow;
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the Plain,
Flies o'er th'unbending Corn, and skims along the Main.
Hear how Timotheus' vary'd Lays sur...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Bride of Abydos The

...s steps the thicket threading, 
And starting oft, as through the glade 
The gust its hollow moanings made; 
Till on the smoother pathway treading, 
More free her timid bosom beat, 
The maid pursued her silent guide; 
And though her terror urged retreat, 
How could she quit her Selim's side? 
How teach her tender lips to chide? 

VII. 

They reach'd at length a grotto, hewn 
By nature, but enlarged by art, 
Where oft her lute she wont to tune, 
And oft her Koran conn'd apart: ...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

Dream Song 3: A Stimulant for an Old Beast

...wald & Co., out of business now.
Thick chests quit. Double agent, Joe.
She holds her breath like a seal
and is whiter & smoother.

Rilke was a jerk.
I admit his griefs & music
& titled spelled all-disappointed ladies.
A threshold worse than the circles
where the vile settle & lurk,
Rilke's. As I said,-”...Read more of this...
by Berryman, John

Endymion: Book II

...heathy waste,
Where with thy silver bow and arrows keen
Art thou now forested? O woodland Queen,
What smoothest air thy smoother forehead woos?
Where dost thou listen to the wide halloos
Of thy disparted nymphs? Through what dark tree
Glimmers thy crescent? Wheresoe'er it be,
'Tis in the breath of heaven: thou dost taste
Freedom as none can taste it, nor dost waste
Thy loveliness in dismal elements;
But, finding in our green earth sweet contents,
There livest blissfully. Ah, ...Read more of this...
by Keats, John


Last Instructions to a Painter

...l within her mind the footman runs: 
His brazen calves, his brawny thighs--the face 
She slights--his feet shaped for a smoother race. 
Poring within her glass she readjusts 
Her looks, and oft-tried beauty now distrusts, 
Fears lest he scorn a woman once assayed, 
And now first wished she e'er had been a maid. 
Great Love, how dost thou triumph and how reign, 
That to a groom couldst humble her disdain! 
Stripped to her skin, see how she stooping stands, 
Nor scorns to rub h...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew

Sleepers The

...e
 consumptive are resumed—the poor distress’d head is free, 
The joints of the rheumatic move as smoothly as ever, and smoother than ever, 
Stiflings and passages open—the paralyzed become supple, 
The swell’d and convuls’d and congested awake to themselves in condition,
They pass the invigoration of the night, and the chemistry of the night, and awake. 

21
I too pass from the night, 
I stay a while away, O night, but I return to you again, and love you. 

Why should I be a...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

Sonnet 17

...sometimes meet, and by the fire
Help wast a sullen day; what may be Won
From the hard Season gaining: time will run
On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire
The frozen earth; and cloth in fresh attire
The Lillie and Rose, that neither sow'd nor spun.
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,
Of Attick tast, with Wine, whence we may rise 
To hear the Lute well toucht, or artfull voice
Warble immortal Notes and Tuskan Ayre?
He who of those delights can judge, and spare
T...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Sonnet 20

...sometimes meet, and by the fire
Help waste a sullen day, what may be won
From the hard season gaining? Time will run
On smoother, till Favonius re-inspire
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire
The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun.
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice,
Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise
To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice
Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air?
He who of those delights can judge, and spare
To i...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Sound And Sense

...ffense,
The sound must seem an echo to the sense:
Soft is the strain when Zephyr gently blows,
And the smooth stream in smoother numbers flows;
But when loud surges lash the sounding shore,
The hoarse, rough verse should like the torrent roar;
When Ajax strives some rock's vast weight to throw,
The line too labors, and the words move slow;
Not so, when swift Camilla scours the plain,
Flies o'er the unbending corn, and skims along the main.
Hear how Timotheus' varied lays surp...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Bride of Abydos

...s steps the thicket threading, 
And starting oft, as through the glade 
The gust its hollow moanings made; 
Till on the smoother pathway treading, 
More free her timid bosom beat, 
The maid pursued her silent guide; 
And though her terror urged retreat, 
How could she quit her Selim's side? 
How teach her tender lips to chide? 

VII. 

They reach'd at length a grotto, hewn 
By nature, but enlarged by art, 
Where oft her lute she wont to tune, 
And oft her Koran conn'd apart: ...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Englishman In Italy

...ay, taste, while awake,
This half of a curd-white smooth cheese-ball,
That peels, flake by flake,
Like an onion's, each smoother and whiter;
Next, sip this weak wine
From the thin green glass flask, with its stopper,
A leaf of the vine,— 
And end with the prickly-pear's red flesh
That leaves through its juice
The stony black seeds on your pearl-teeth
...Scirocco is loose!
Hark! the quick, whistling pelt of the olives
Which, thick in one's track,
Tempt the stranger to pick up ...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Halt Before Rome--September 1867

...er,
With the clasp of an adder he clasps;
Swift to shed blood are his feet,
And his lips, that have man for their meat,
Smoother than oil, and more sweet
Than honey, but hidden thereunder
Festers the poison of asps.

As swords are his tender mercies,
His kisses as mortal stings;
Under his hallowing hands
Life dies down in all lands;
Kings pray to him, prone where he stands,
And his blessings, as other men's curses,
Disanoint where they consecrate kings.

With an oil of unclea...Read more of this...
by Swinburne, Algernon Charles

The Maple Tree

...is seen,
Of yellowish hue yet beautifully green.
Bark ribb'd like corderoy in seamy screed
That farther up the stem is smoother seen,
Where the white hemlock with white umbel flowers
Up each spread stoven to the branches towers
And mossy round the stoven spread dark green
And blotched leaved orchis and the blue-bell flowers—
Thickly they grow and neath the leaves are seen.
I love to see them gemm'd with morning hours.
I love the lone green places where they be
And the sweet ...Read more of this...
by Clare, John

The Princess (part 5)

...e, beak and talon, at the heart 
Made for all noble motion: and I saw 
That equal baseness lived in sleeker times 
With smoother men: the old leaven leavened all: 
Millions of throats would bawl for civil rights, 
No woman named: therefore I set my face 
Against all men, and lived but for mine own. 
Far off from men I built a fold for them: 
I stored it full of rich memorial: 
I fenced it round with gallant institutes, 
And biting laws to scare the beasts of prey 
And prosper...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Siege of Corinth

...an hath left his herd, [2] 
The sabre round his loins to gird; 
And there the volleying thunders pour, 
Till waves grow smoother to the roar. 
The trench is dug, the cannon's breath 
Wings the far hissing globe of death; 
Fast whirl the fragments from the wall, 
Which crumbles with the ponderous ball; 
And from that wall the foe replies, 
O'er dusty plain and smoky skies, 
With fires that answer fast and well 
The summons of the Infidel. 

III. 

But near and nearest to the w...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Triumph

...orld compriseth! 
Do but look on her hair, it is bright 
As Love's star when it riseth! 
Do but mark, her forehead's smoother 15 
Than words that soothe her; 
And from her arch'd brows such a grace 
Sheds itself through the face, 
As alone there triumphs to the life 
All the gain, all the good, of the elements' strife. 20 

Have you seen but a bright lily grow 
Before rude hands have touch'd it? 
Have you mark'd but the fall of the snow 
Before the soil hath smut...Read more of this...
by Jonson, Ben

Thyrsis a Monody

...by the forest-ways,
And scent of hay new-mown.
But Thyrsis never more we swains shall see;
See him come back, and cut a smoother reed,
And blow a strain the world at last shall heed--
For Time, not Corydon, hath conquer'd thee!

Alack, for Corydon no rival now!--
But when Sicilian shepherds lost a mate,
Some good survivor with his flute would go,
Piping a ditty sad for Bion's fate;
And cross the unpermitted ferry's flow,
And relax Pluto's brow,
And make leap up with joy the b...Read more of this...
by Arnold, Matthew

To Meadows

...h honeysuckles crown'd.

But now, we see none here,
Whose silvery feet did tread
And with dishevell'd hair
Adorn'd this smoother mead.

Like unthrifts, having spent
Your stock, and needy grown
You're left here to lament
Your poor estates alone....Read more of this...
by Herrick, Robert

To Mr. Lawrence

...metimes meet, and by the fire 
Help waste a sullen day, what may be won 
From the hard season gaining? Time will run
On smoother, till Favonius reinspire 
The frozen earth, and clothe in fresh attire 
The lily and rose, that neither sowed nor spun. 
What neat repast shall feast us, light and choice, 
Of Attic taste, with wine, whence we may rise
To hear the lute well touched, or artful voice 
Warble immortal notes and Tuscan air? 
He who of those delights can judge, and spare...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

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