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Famous Stay Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Shakespeare, William
...r forced examples, 'gainst her own content,
To put the by-past perils in her way?
Counsel may stop awhile what will not stay;
For when we rage, advice is often seen
By blunting us to make our wits more keen.

'Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood,
That we must curb it upon others' proof;
To be forbod the sweets that seem so good,
For fear of harms that preach in our behoof.
O appetite, from judgment stand aloof!
The one a palate hath that needs will taste,
Though Re...Read more of this...



by Wilde, Oscar
...ads one snowdrop under foot, and runs
Over the mossy knoll, and blackbirds fly
Across our path at evening, and the suns
Stay longer with us; ah! how good to see
Grass-girdled spring in all her joy of laughing greenery

Dance through the hedges till the early rose,
(That sweet repentance of the thorny briar!)
Burst from its sheathed emerald and disclose
The little quivering disk of golden fire
Which the bees know so well, for with it come
Pale boy's-love, sops-in-wine, and daf...Read more of this...

by Alighieri, Dante
...y words are weak. 
 Thy wisdom further than the things I speak 
 Can search the event that would be." 
 Here I
 stayed 
 My steps amid the darkness, and the Shade 
 That led me heard and turned, magnanimous, 
 And saw me drained of purpose halting thus, 
 And answered, "If thy coward-born thoughts be clear, 
 And all thy once intent, infirmed of fear, 
 Broken, then art thou as scared beasts that shy 
 From shadows, surely that they know not why 
 Nor wherefore. ....Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...gn aspect, and of tender age. 
Years had roll'd on, and fast they speed away 
To those that wander as to those that stay; 
But lack of tidings from another clime 
Had lent a flagging wing to weary Time. 
They see, they recognise, yet almost deem 
The present dubious, or the past a dream. 

He lives, nor yet is past his manhood's prime, 
Though sear'd by toil, and something touch'd by time; 
His faults, whate'er they were, if scarce forgot, 
Might be untaught him b...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
..., still shades thee, and protects. 
The wife, where danger or dishonour lurks, 
Safest and seemliest by her husband stays, 
Who guards her, or with her the worst endures. 
To whom the virgin majesty of Eve, 
As one who loves, and some unkindness meets, 
With sweet austere composure thus replied. 
Offspring of Heaven and Earth, and all Earth's Lord! 
That such an enemy we have, who seeks 
Our ruin, both by thee informed I learn, 
And from the parting Angel over-hea...Read more of this...



by Ashbery, John
...urt were "stupefied"
By it, according to Vasari, and promised a commission
That never materialized. The soul has to stay where it is,
Even though restless, hearing raindrops at the pane,
The sighing of autumn leaves thrashed by the wind,
Longing to be free, outside, but it must stay
Posing in this place. It must move
As little as possible. This is what the portrait says.
But there is in that gaze a combination
Of tenderness, amusement and regret, so powerful
I...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...I should have thought, though, you could make him hear you.”

“What is he doing out a night like this?
Why can’t he stay at home?”

“He had to preach.”

“It’s no night to be out.”

“He may be small,
He may be good, but one thing’s sure, he’s tough.”

“And strong of stale tobacco.”

“He’ll pull through.’
“You only say so. Not another house
Or shelter to put into from this place
To theirs. I’m going to call his wife again.”

“Wait and he may....Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...st of them is beautiful to her. 

Where are you off to, lady? for I see you; 
You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room. 

Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather;
The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them. 

The beards of the young men glisten’d with wet, it ran from their long
 hair: 
Little streams pass’d all over their bodies. 

An unseen hand also pass’d over their bodies; 
It d...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...I know that they go toward the best—toward something great. 

15
Allons! whoever you are! come forth!
You must not stay sleeping and dallying there in the house, though you built it, or though
 it
 has
 been built for you. 

Allons! out of the dark confinement! 
It is useless to protest—I know all, and expose it. 

Behold, through you as bad as the rest, 
Through the laughter, dancing, dining, supping, of people,
Inside of dresses and ornaments, inside of those w...Read more of this...

by Chesterton, G K
...as dead on sand;
And the third time men found him
The spear was in his hand.

Seven spears went about Eldred,
Like stays about a mast;
But there was sorrow by the sea
For the driving of the last.

Six spears thrust upon Eldred
Were splintered while he laughed;
One spear thrust into Eldred,
Three feet of blade and shaft.

And from the great heart grievously
Came forth the shaft and blade,
And he stood with the face of a dead man,
Stood a little, and swayed--

Then...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...d. 
My love thou surely knew'st before, 
It ne'er was less, nor can be more. 
To see thee, hear thee, near thee stay, 
And hate the night, I know not why, 
Save that we meet not but by day; 
With thee to live, with thee to die, 
I dare not to my hope deny: 
Thy cheek, thine eyes, thy lips to kiss, 
Like this — and this — no more than this; 
For, Allah! Sure thy lips are flame: 
What fever in thy veins is flushing? 
My own have nearly caught the same, 
At least I feel ...Read more of this...

by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...rarch
Their tassell'd twigs, fair beds of primrose lie. 
Beneath the crisp and wintry carpet hid
A million buds but stay their blossoming;
And trustful birds have built their nests amid
The shuddering boughs, and only wait to sing
Till one soft shower from the south shall bid,
And hither tempt the pilgrim steps of spring. 

7
In thee my spring of life hath bid the while
A rose unfold beyond the summer's best,
The mystery of joy made manifest
In love's self-answering a...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...ad, 
And maddening what he rode: and when I cried, 
`Ridest thou then so hotly on a quest 
So holy,' Lancelot shouted, `Stay me not! 
I have been the sluggard, and I ride apace, 
For now there is a lion in the way.' 
So vanished." 

`Then Sir Bors had ridden on 
Softly, and sorrowing for our Lancelot, 
Because his former madness, once the talk 
And scandal of our table, had returned; 
For Lancelot's kith and kin so worship him 
That ill to him is ill to them; to Bors ...Read more of this...

by Wordsworth, William
...;And Betty's in a sad quandary;  And then there's nobody to say  If she must go or she must stay:  —She's in a sad quandary.   The clock is on the stroke of one;  But neither Doctor nor his guide  Appear along the moonlight road,  There's neither horse nor man abroad,  And Betty's still at Susan's side.   And Susan she begins to fear&...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...den of old;
     For ere that steep ascent was won,
     High in his pathway hung the sun,
     And many a gallant, stayed perforce,
     Was fain to breathe his faltering horse,
     And of the trackers of the deer
     Scarce half the lessening pack was near;
     So shrewdly on the mountain-side
     Had the bold burst their mettle tried.
     V.

     The noble stag was pausing now
     Upon the mountain's southern brow,
     Where broad extended, far beneat...Read more of this...

by Bukowski, Charles
...ked. "Why don't you just live with
it?" 
"Because people think it's all I have. Beauty is nothing, beauty won't stay. You
don't know how lucky you are to be ugly, because if people like you you know it's for
something else." 
"O.k.," I said, "I'm lucky." 
"I don't mean you're ugly. People just think you're ugly. You have a fascinating
face." 
"Thanks." 
We had another drink. 
"What are you doing?" she asked. 
"Nothing. I...Read more of this...

by Carroll, Lewis
...r>'" 

He moaned: he knew not what to say.
The thought "That I could get away!"
Strove with the thought "But I must stay. 

"To dine!" she shrieked in dragon-wrath.
"To swallow wines all foam and froth!
To simper at a table-cloth! 

"Say, can thy noble spirit stoop
To join the gormandising troup
Who find a solace in the soup? 

"Canst thou desire or pie or puff?
Thy well-bred manners were enough,
Without such gross material stuff." 

"Yet well-bred men," he fa...Read more of this...

by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...fee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm' aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the archduke's,
My cousin's, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.
 What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man, 
You cannot...Read more of this...

by Miller, Alice Duer
...Johnnie and his friends; 
They took me to the country
For long week-ends;
I never was so happy,
I never had such fun,
I stayed many weeks in England
Instead of just one.

VIII 
John had one of those English faces 
That always were and will always be 
Found in the cream of English places 
Till England herself sink into the sea— 
A blond, bowed face with prominent eyes 
A little bit bluer than English skies. 
You see it in ruffs and suits of armour, 
You see it in wigs ...Read more of this...

by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...o'er its gentle countenance did play
The busy dreams, as thick as summer flies,
Chasing the rapid smiles that would not stay,
And drinking the warm tears, and the sweet sighs
Inhaling, which with busy murmur vain
They has aroused from that full heart and brain.

And ever down the prone vale, like a cloud
Upon a stream of wind, the pinnace went:
Now lingering on the pools, in which abode
The calm and darkness of the deep content
In which they paused; now o'er the shallow r...Read more of this...

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