Famous Swarthy Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Nocturnal Reverie

...y hear;
When through the gloom more venerable shows
Some ancient fabric, awful in repose,
While sunburnt hills their swarthy looks conceal,
And swelling haycocks thicken up the vale:
When the loosed horse now, as his pasture leads,
Comes slowly grazing through th' adjoining meads,
Whose stealing pace, and lengthened shade we fear,
Till torn-up forage in his teeth we hear:
When nibbling sheep at large pursue their food,
And unmolested kine rechew the cud;
When curle...Read more of this...
by Finch, Anne Kingsmill


Charmides

...rought out his linen tunic and his sandals brazen-soled,

And a rich robe stained with the fishers' juice
Which of some swarthy trader he had bought
Upon the sunny quay at Syracuse,
And was with Tyrian broideries inwrought,
And by the questioning merchants made his way
Up through the soft and silver woods, and when the labouring day

Had spun its tangled web of crimson cloud,
Clomb the high hill, and with swift silent feet
Crept to the fane unnoticed by the crowd
Of busy prie...Read more of this...
by Wilde, Oscar

Enoch Arden

...sailor's lad
Made orphan by a winter shipwreck, play'd
Among the waste and lumber of the shore,
Hard coils of cordage, swarthy fishing-nets,
Anchors of rusty fluke, and boats updrawn,
And built their castles of dissolving sand
To watch them overflow'd, or following up
And flying the white breaker, daily left
The little footprint daily wash'd away. 

A narrow cave ran in beneath the cliff:
In this the children play'd at keeping house.
Enoch was host one day, Philip the next,
...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Geraint And Enid

...s sword, 
(It lay beside him in the hollow shield), 
Made but a single bound, and with a sweep of it 
Shore through the swarthy neck, and like a ball 
The russet-bearded head rolled on the floor. 
So died Earl Doorm by him he counted dead. 
And all the men and women in the hall 
Rose when they saw the dead man rise, and fled 
Yelling as from a spectre, and the two 
Were left alone together, and he said: 

'Enid, I have used you worse than that dead man; 
Done you more wrong: ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Gertrude of Wyoming

...hour,
When sire and daughter saw, with fleet descent,
An Indian from his bark approach their bower,
Of buskin limb, and swarthy lineament;
The red wild feathers on his brow were blent,
And bracelets bound the arm that help'd to light
A boy, who seem'd, as he beside him went,
Of Christian vesture, and complexion bright,
Led by his dusky guide, like morning brought by night.

Yet pensive seem'd the boy for one so young--
The dimple from his polish'd cheek had fled;
When, leanin...Read more of this...
by Campbell, Thomas


Idylls of the King: The Last Tournament (excerpt)

...le clung,
And pettish cries awoke, and the wan day
Went glooming down in wet and weariness:
But under her black brows a swarthy one
Laugh'd shrilly, crying, "Praise the patient saints,
Our one white day of Innocence hath past,
Tho' somewhat draggled at the skirt. So be it.
The snowdrop only, flowering thro' the year,
Would make the world as blank as Winter-tide.
Come--let us gladden their sad eyes, our Queen's
And Lancelot's, at this night's solemnity
With all the kindlier co...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Idylls of the King: The Passing of Arthur (excerpt)

...some full-breasted swan
That, fluting a wild carol ere her death,
Ruffles her pure cold plume, and takes the flood
With swarthy webs. Long stood Sir Bedivere
Revolving many memories, till the hull
Look'd one black dot against the verge of dawn,
And on the mere the wailing died away.


But when that moan had past for evermore,
The stillness of the dead world's winter dawn
Amazed him, and he groan'd, ``The King is gone.''
And therewithal came on him the weird rhyme,
"From the g...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Lara

...t could disclose, 
And now was fix'd in horrible repose. 
They raise him — bear him: hush! he breathes, he speaks! 
The swarthy blush recolours in his cheeks, 
His lip resumes its red, his eye, though dim, 
Rolls wide and wild, each slowly quivering limb 
Recalls its function, but his words are strung 
In terms that seem not of his native tongue; 
Distinct but strange, enough they understand 
To deem them accents of another land, 
And such they were, and meant to meet an ear ...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

May

...dering ground
Each skeleton of lingering stack
By winters tempests beaten black
Nodds upon props or bolt upright
Stands swarthy in the summer light
And oer the green grass seems to lower
Like stump of old time wasted tower
All that in winter lookd for hay
Spread from their batterd haunts away
To pick the grass or lye at lare
Beneath the mild hedge shadows there
Sweet month that gives a welcome call
To toil and nature and to all
Yet one day mid thy many joys
Is dead to all its...Read more of this...
by Clare, John

Salut au Monde

...s, the Burampooter and Cambodia; 
Others wait at the wharves of Manhattan, steam’d up, ready to start; 
Wait, swift and swarthy, in the ports of Australia;
Wait at Liverpool, Glasgow, Dublin, Marseilles, Lisbon, Naples, Hamburg, Bremen, Bordeaux,
 the
 Hague, Copenhagen; 
Wait at Valparaiso, Rio Janeiro, Panama; 
Wait at their moorings at Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Charleston, New Orleans,
 Galveston,
 San
 Francisco. 

5
I see the tracks of the rail-roads of the earth;...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Building of the Ship

...ows of palms, and shining sands, 
Where the tumbling surf, 
O'er the coral reefs of Madagascar, 
Washes the feet of the swarthy Lascar, 
As he lies alone and asleep on the turf. 
And the trembling maiden held her breath 
At the tales of that awful, pitiless sea, 
With all its terror and mystery, 
The dim, dark sea, so like unto Death, 
That divides and yet unites mankind! 
And whenever the old man paused, a gleam 
From the bowl of his pipe would awhile illume 
The silent grou...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

The Coliseum

...rs! 

Here, where a hero fell, a column falls! 
Here, where the mimic eagle glared in gold, 
A midnight vigil holds the swarthy bat! 
Here, where the dames of Rome their gilded hair 
Waved to the wind, now wave the reed and thistle! 
Here, where on golden throne the monarch lolled, 
Glides, spectre-like, unto his marble home, 
Lit by the wan light of the horned moon, 
The swift and silent lizard of the stones! 

But stay! these walls- these ivy-clad arcades- 
These moldering ...Read more of this...
by Poe, Edgar Allan

The Giaour

...all repay
His welcome speed, and weary way.'
The Tartar lighted at the gate,
But scarce upheld his fainting weight!
His swarthy visage spake distress,
But this might be from weariness;
His garb with sanguine spots was dyed,
But these might be from his courser's side;
He drew the token from his vest -
Angel of Death! 'tis Hassan's cloven crest!
His calpac rent - his caftan red -
'Lady, a fearful bride thy son hath wed:
Me, not from mercy, did they spare,
But this empurpled ple...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

The Lady of the Lake

...ressing forward like the wind,
     Left clamor and surprise behind.
     The fisherman forsook the strand,
     The swarthy smith took dirk and brand;
     With changed cheer, the mower blithe
     Left in the half-cut swath his scythe;
     The herds without a keeper strayed,
     The plough was in mid-furrow staved,
     The falconer tossed his hawk away,
     The hunter left the stag at hay;
     Prompt at the signal of alarms,
     Each son of Alpine rushed to...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter

The Last Tournament

...clung, 
And pettish cries awoke, and the wan day 
Went glooming down in wet and weariness: 
But under her black brows a swarthy one 
Laughed shrilly, crying, `Praise the patient saints, 
Our one white day of Innocence hath past, 
Though somewhat draggled at the skirt. So be it. 
The snowdrop only, flowering through the year, 
Would make the world as blank as Winter-tide. 
Come--let us gladden their sad eyes, our Queen's 
And Lancelot's, at this night's solemnity 
With all the...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Lovers of the Poor

...Their guild is giving money to the poor.
The worthy poor. The very very worthy
And beautiful poor. Perhaps just not too swarthy?
Perhaps just not too dirty nor too dim
Nor--passionate. In truth, what they could wish
Is--something less than derelict or dull.
Not staunch enough to stab, though, gaze for gaze!
God shield them sharply from the beggar-bold!
The noxious needy ones whose battle's bald
Nonetheless for being voiceless, hits one down.
But it's all so bad! and entirely ...Read more of this...
by Brooks, Gwendolyn

The Pied Piper Of Hamelin

...low and half of red;
And he himself was tall and thin,
With sharp blue eyes, each like a pin,
And light loose hair, yet swarthy skin,
No tuft on cheek nor beard on chin,
But lips where smiles went out and in— 
There was no guessing his kith and kin!
And nobody could enough admire
The tall man and his quaint attire:
Quoth one: "It's as my great-grandsire,
Starting up at the Trump of Doom's tone,
Had walked this way from his painted tombstone!"

He advanced to the council-table...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

The Rape of the Lock

...Let Spades be Trumps, she said, and Trumps they were.

Now move to War her Sable Matadores,
In Show like Leaders of the swarthy Moors.
Spadillio first, unconquerable Lord!
Led off two captive Trumps, and swept the Board.
As many more Manillio forc'd to yield,
And march'd a Victor from the verdant Field.
Him Basto follow'd, but his Fate more hard
Gain'd but one Trump and one Plebeian Card.
With his broad Sabre next, a Chief in Years,
The hoary Majesty of Spades appears;
Puts f...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Talking Oak

...rhyme, 
And praise thee more in both 
Than bard has honour'd beech or lime, 
Or that Thessalian growth, 

In which the swarthy ringdove sat, 
And mystic sentence spoke; 
And more than England honours that, 
Thy famous brother-oak, 

Wherein the younger Charles abode 
Till all the paths were dim, 
And far below the Roundhead rode, 
And humm'd a surly hymn....Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Vision of Judgment

...ore to say?' — 'No.' — If you please 
I'll trouble you to call your witnesses.' 

LII 

Then Satan turn'd and waved his swarthy hand, 
Which stirr'd with its electric qualities 
Clouds farther off than we can understand, 
Although we find him sometimes in our skies; 
Infernal thunder shook both sea and land 
In all the planets, and hell's batteries 
Let off the artillery, which Milton mentions 
As one of Satan's most sublime inventions. 

LIII 

This was a signal unto such da...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)

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