Famous Succour Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Sonnet II

by Edmund Spenser
 VNquiet thought, whom at the first I bred,
Of th'inward bale of my loue pined hart:
and sithens haue with sighes and sorrowes fed,
till greater then my wombe thou woxen art.
Breake forth at length out of the inner part,
in which thou lurkest lyke to vipers brood:
and seeke some succour both to ease my smart
and also to sustayne thy selfe with food.
But...Read more of this...

West London

by Matthew Arnold
 Crouch'd on the pavement close by Belgrave Square
A tramp I saw, ill, moody, and tongue-tied;
A babe was in her arms, and at her side
A girl; their clothes were rags, their feet were bare.
Some labouring men, whose work lay somewhere there,
Pass'd opposite; she touch'd her girl, who hied
Across, and begg'd and came back satisfied.
The rich she had let pass with...Read more of this...

Sonnet LXXXIX

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 317] SONNET LXXXIX. Deh porgi mano all' affannato ingegno. HE BEGS LOVE TO ASSIST HIM, THAT HE MAY WORTHILY CELEBRATE HER.  Ah, Love! some succour to my weak mind deign,Lend to my frail and weary style thine aid,To sing of her who is immortal made,A citizen of the...Read more of this...

The Wreck of the Columbine

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Kind Christians, all pay attention to me,
And Miss Mouat's sufferings I'll relate to ye;
While on board the Columbine, on the merciless sea,
Tossing about in the darkness of night in the storm helplessly. 

She left her home (Scatness), on Saturday morning, bound for Lerwick,
Thinking to get cured by a man she knew, as she was very sick;
But for eight days...Read more of this...

An EPISTLE From A Gentleman To Madam Deshouliers

by Anne Kingsmill Finch
 URANIA, whom the Town admires, 
Whose Wit and Beauty share our Praise; 
This fair URANIA who inspires 
A thousand Joys a thousand ways, 
She, who cou'd with a Glance convey 
Favours, that had my Hopes outdone, 
Has lent me Money on that Day, 
Which our Acquaintance first begun. 

Nor with the Happiness I taste, 
Let any jealous Doubts contend:...Read more of this...

The Poor Mans Lamb

by Anne Kingsmill Finch
 NOW spent the alter'd King, in am'rous Cares, 
The Hours of sacred Hymns and solemn Pray'rs: 
In vain the Alter waits his slow returns, 
Where unattended Incense faintly burns: 
In vain the whisp'ring Priests their Fears express, 
And of the Change a thousand Causes guess. 
Heedless of all their Censures He retires, 
And in his Palace feeds his secret...Read more of this...

For sake of these two splendours do the wise

by Hafez
For sake of these two splendours do the wise
Set store on riches, & for these alone:
For these two glories only do they prize
Power & majesty of kingly throne:

Or this: to succour friendship in distress,
To comfort humble sorrow, nor despise
To cheer the joyless heart of weariness,
To guard & aid whom fortune doth oppress
That he to life’s glad kingdom be restor’d
(& thus...Read more of this...

Street Cries

by Sarojini Naidu
 WHEN dawn's first cymbals beat upon the sky, 
Rousing the world to labour's various cry, 
To tend the flock, to bind the mellowing grain, 
From ardent toil to forge a little gain, 
And fasting men go forth on hurrying feet, 
Buy bread, buy bread, rings down the eager street. 


When the earth falters and the waters swoon 
With the...Read more of this...

The Ghost

by Charles Baudelaire
 Down the street as I was drifting with the city's human tide, 
Came a ghost, and for a moment walked in silence by my side -- 
Now my heart was hard and bitter, and a bitter spirit he, 
So I felt no great aversion to his ghostly company. 
Said the Shade: `At finer feelings let your lip in scorn...Read more of this...

An Hymn To Humanity (To S.P.G. Esp)

by Phillis Wheatley
 O! for this dark terrestrial ball
Forsakes his azure-paved hall
 A prince of heav'nly birth!
Divine Humanity behold,
What wonders rise, what charms unfold
 At his descent to earth!

II.

The bosoms of the great and good
With wonder and delight he view'd,
 And fix'd his empire there:
Him, close compressing to his breast,
The sire of gods and men address'd,
 "My son, my heav'nly fair!

III.

"Descend to...Read more of this...

welsh experience

by Rg Gregory
 called out by the sun
this easter saturday morning
i'm sitting on a bank
in pistyllgwyn
(house of the sacred spring)
against a tall oak
(close to a daffodil-clump)
overlooking the road
between brechfa and abergorlech
on the west side of the valley
of the afon cothi
reading a poem by taliesin
from the sixth century
(the first poem in the oxford book
of welsh poetry in english)
which begins
  there was a...Read more of this...

Poem 22

by Edmund Spenser
 ANd thou great Iuno, which with awful might
the lawes of wedlock still dost patronize,
And the religion of the faith first plight
With sacred rites hast taught to solemnize:
and eeke for comfort often called art
Of women in their smart,
Eternally bind thou this louely band,
And all thy blessings vnto vs impart.
And thou glad Genius, in whose gentle hand,
The bridale bowre and geniall...Read more of this...

The Burning of the Ship Kent

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Good people of high and low degree,
I pray ye all to list to me,
And I'll relate a harrowing tale of the sea
Concerning the burning of the ship "Kent" in the Bay of Biscay,
Which is the most appalling tale of the present century. 

She carried a crew, including officers, of 148 men,
And twenty lady passengers along with them;
Besides 344 men...Read more of this...

Harvest Hymn

by Sarojini Naidu
 Mens Voices:

LORD of the lotus, lord of the harvest, 
Bright and munificent lord of the morn! 
Thine is the bounty that prospered our sowing, 
Thine is the bounty that nurtured our corn. 
We bring thee our songs and our garlands for tribute, 
The gold of our fields and the gold of our fruit; 
O giver of mellowing radiance, we...Read more of this...

Unstable Dream

by Sir Thomas Wyatt
 Unstable dream, according to the place,
Be steadfast once, or else at least be true.
By tasted sweetness make me not to rue
The sudden loss of thy false feignèd grace.
By good respect in such a dangerous case
Thou broughtest not her into this tossing mew
But madest my sprite live, my care to renew,
My body in tempest her succour to embrace.
The body dead,...Read more of this...

Sonnet LVI

by Edmund Spenser
 FAyre ye be sure, but cruell and vnkind,
As is a Tygre that with greedinesse
hunts after bloud, when he by chance doth find
a feeble beast, doth felly him oppresse.
Fayre be ye sure but proud and pittilesse,
as is a storme, that all things doth prostrate:
finding a tree alone all comfortlesse,
beats on it strongly it to ruinate.
Fayre be ye sure, but hard...Read more of this...

'Tis naught but smoke this people's fire doth bear,

by Omar Khayyam
'Tis naught but smoke this people's fire doth bear,
For my well-being not a soul doth care;
With hands fate makes me lift up in despair,
I grasp men's skirts, but find no succour there....Read more of this...

Sonnet LXXXVI

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET LXXXVI. I' vo piangendo i miei passati tempi. HE HUMBLY CONFESSES THE ERRORS OF HIS PAST LIFE, AND PRAYS FOR DIVINE GRACE.  Weeping, I still revolve the seasons flownIn vain idolatry of mortal things;Not soaring heavenward; though my soul had wings[Pg 315]Which might, perchance, a glorious flight have...Read more of this...

The Wreck of the Barque Wm. Paterson of Liverpool

by William Topaz McGonagall
 Ye landsmen all attend my verse, and I'll tell to ye a tale
Concerning the barque "Wm. Paterson" that was lost in a tempestuous gale;
She was on a voyage from Bangkok to the Clyde with a cargo of Teakwood,
And the crew numbered Fifteen in all of seamen firm and good. 

'Twas on the 11th of March, when a violent gale...Read more of this...

The Castaway

by William Cowper
 Obscurest night involv'd the sky,
Th' Atlantic billows roar'd,
When such a destin'd wretch as I,
Wash'd headlong from on board,
Of friends, of hope, of all bereft,
His floating home for ever left.

No braver chief could Albion boast
Than he with whom he went,
Nor ever ship left Albion's coast,
With warmer wishes sent.
He lov'd them both, but both in vain,
Nor him beheld, nor her again.

Not...Read more of this...

Canzone XX

by Francesco Petrarch
CANZONE XX. Ben mi credea passar mio tempo omai. HE CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT SEEING HER, BUT WOULD NOT DIE THAT HE MAY STILL LOVE HER.  As pass'd the years which I have left behind,To pass my future years I fondly thought,Amid old studies, with desires the same;But, from my lady since I...Read more of this...

Sonnet CLXIX

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 181] SONNET CLXIX. D' un bel, chiaro, polito e vivo ghiaccio. THOUGH RACKED BY AGONY, HE DOES NOT COMPLAIN OF HER.  The flames that ever on my bosom preyFrom living ice or cold fair marble pour,And so exhaust my veins and waste my core,Almost insensibly I melt away.Read more of this...

Ballata VI

by Francesco Petrarch
BALLATA VI. Di tempo in tempo mi si fa men dura. THOUGH SHE BE LESS SEVERE, HE IS STILL NOT CONTENTED AND TRANQUIL AT HEART.  From time to time more clemency for meIn that sweet smile and angel form I trace;Seem too her lovely faceAnd lustrous eyes at length more kind to...Read more of this...

Botany Bay Eclogues 05 - Frederic

by Robert Southey
 (Time Night. Scene the woods.)


Where shall I turn me? whither shall I bend
My weary way? thus worn with toil and faint
How thro' the thorny mazes of this wood
Attain my distant dwelling? that deep cry
That rings along the forest seems to sound
My parting knell: it is the midnight howl
Of hungry monsters prowling for their prey!
Again! oh save me--save me gracious...Read more of this...

The Bedridden Peasant to an Unknown God

by Thomas Hardy
 Much wonder I--here long low-laid - 
 That this dead wall should be 
Betwixt the Maker and the made, 
 Between Thyself and me! 

For, say one puts a child to nurse, 
 He eyes it now and then 
To know if better 'tis, or worse, 
 And if it mourn, and when. 

But Thou, Lord, giv'st us men...Read more of this...

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