Famous Ten Thousand Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Amaranth

by Vachel Lindsay
 Ah, in the night, all music haunts me here. . . .
Is it for naught high Heaven cracks and yawns
And the tremendous Amaranth descends
Sweet with the glory of ten thousand dawns?

Does it not mean my God would have me say: — 
"Whether you will or no, O city young, 
Heaven will bloom like one great flower for you, 
Flash...Read more of this...

Nefarious War

by Li Po
 Last year we fought by the head-stream of the Sang-kan,
This year we are fighting on the Tsung-ho road.
We have washed our armor in the waves of the Chiao-chi lake,
We have pastured our horses on Tien-shan's snowy slopes.
The long, long war goes on ten thousand miles from home,
Our three armies are worn and grown old.

The barbarian does man-slaughter for plowing;
On...Read more of this...

Answering Vice-Prefect Zhang

by Wang Wei
 As the years go by, give me but peace, 
Freedom from ten thousand matters. 
I ask myself and always answer: 
What can be better than coming home? 
A wind from the pine-trees blows my sash, 
And my lute is bright with the mountain moon. 
You ask me about good and evil fortune?.... 
Hark, on the lake there's a fisherman...Read more of this...

The Wifes Will

by Charlotte Bronte
 SIT still­a word­a breath may break 
(As light airs stir a sleeping lake,) 
The glassy calm that soothes my woes, 
The sweet, the deep, the full repose. 
O leave me not ! for ever be 
Thus, more than life itself to me ! 

Yes, close beside thee, let me kneel­ 
Give me thy hand that I may feel 
The...Read more of this...

Through the YangZi Gorges

by Li Bai
From the walls of Baidi high in the coloured dawn

To Jiangling by night-fall is three hundred miles,

Yet monkeys are still calling on both banks behind me

To my boat these ten thousand mountains away. ...Read more of this...

Climbing High

by Du Fu
 Wind swift heaven high ape cry grief Islet clear sand white bird fly circle No edge fall tree rustle rustle down No end great river surge surge arrive 10,000 li sorrow autumn always be a guest 100 years many sickness alone climb platform Difficult suffering regret numerous white temples Frustrated now stop turbid drink cup Swift...Read more of this...

As Kingfishers Catch Fire

by Gerard Manley Hopkins
 As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell's
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves — goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying, What I do is me:...Read more of this...

The Tree of Laughing Bells

by Vachel Lindsay
 [A Poem for Aviators]


How the Wings Were Made

From many morning-glories 
That in an hour will fade, 
From many pansy buds 
Gathered in the shade, 
From lily of the valley 
And dandelion buds, 
From fiery poppy-buds 
Are the Wings of the Morning made. 


The Indian Girl Who Made Them

These, the Wings of the Morning, 
An Indian Maiden wove, 
Intertwining subtilely...Read more of this...

Hymn 62

by Isaac Watts
 Christ Jesus, the Lamb of God, worshipped by all the creation.

Rev. 5:11-13. 

Come, let us join our cheerful songs
With angels round the throne;
Ten thousand thousand are their tongues,
But all their joys are one.

"Worthy the Lamb that died," they cry,
"To be exalted thus:"
"Worthy the Lamb," our lips reply,
"For he was slain for us."

Jesus is worthy to receive
Honor and power divine;
And...Read more of this...

Sonnet XIV

by Alan Seeger
 IT may be for the world of weeds and tares 
And dearth in Nature of sweet Beauty's rose 
That oft as Fortune from ten thousand shows 
One from the train of Love's true courtiers 
Straightway on him who gazes, unawares, 
Deep wonder seizes and swift trembling grows, 
Reft by that sight of purpose and repose, 
Hardly its weight his...Read more of this...

Psalm 33 part 2

by Isaac Watts
 Creatures vain, and God all-sufficient.

Blest is the nation where the Lord
Hath fixed his gracious throne,
Where he reveals his heav'nly word,
And calls their tribes his own.

His eye with infinite survey
Does the whole world behold;
He formed us all of equal clay,
And knows our feeble mold.

Kings are not rescued by the force
Of armies from the grave;
Nor speed nor courage of a horse
Can...Read more of this...

Through the YangZi Gorges

by Li Po
 From the walls of Baidi high in the coloured dawn 
To Jiangling by night-fall is three hundred miles, 
Yet monkeys are still calling on both banks behind me 
To my boat these ten thousand mountains away....Read more of this...

Who Learns My Lesson Complete?

by Walt Whitman
 WHO learns my lesson complete? 
Boss, journeyman, apprentice—churchman and atheist, 
The stupid and the wise thinker—parents and offspring—merchant, clerk, porter
 and
 customer, 
Editor, author, artist, and schoolboy—Draw nigh and commence; 
It is no lesson—it lets down the bars to a good lesson,
And that to another, and every one to another still. 

The great laws take and effuse without argument;...Read more of this...

Train

by Bernadette Geyer
 Train. Distant Train. Praise the glorious distance of Train.

Dogs bark, reply to the mournful echo of Train's whistle. Train looks back, keeps moving. Train carries its boxcars of secrets further and further away (and even further still) from those who profess to love Train, but who do not run after him. Eyes brimmed with glassy reflections of Train.

To watch...Read more of this...

Psalm 91 part 1

by Isaac Watts
 v.1-7 
L. M.
Safety in public diseases and dangers.

He that hath made his refuge God
Shall find a most secure abode,
Shall walk all day beneath his shade,
And there at night shall rest his head.

Then will I say, "My God, thy power
Shall be my fortress and my tower;
I, that am formed of feeble dust,
Make thine almighty arm my trust."

Thrice happy man! thy...Read more of this...

Ziyi Song

by Li Po
 Chang-an -- one slip of moon;
in ten thousand houses, the sound of fulling mallets.
Autumn winds keep on blowing,
all things make me think of Jade Pass!
When will they put down the barbarians
and my good man come home from his far campaign?...Read more of this...

Taking Leave of a Friend

by Ezra Pound
 Blue mountains lie beyond the north wall;
Round the city's eastern side flows the white water.
Here we part, friend, once forever.
You go ten thousand miles, drifting away
Like an unrooted water-grass.
Oh, the floating clouds and the thoughts of a wanderer!
Oh, the sunset and the longing of an old friend!
We ride away from each other, waving our hands,
While our horses neigh softly,...Read more of this...

By The Pacific Ocean

by Joaquin Miller
Here room and kingly silence keep
Companionship in state austere;
The dignity of death is here,
The large, lone vastness of the deep.
Here toil has pitched his camp to rest:
The west is banked against the west.

Above yon gleaming skies of gold
One lone imperial peak is seen;
While gathered at his feet in green
Ten thousand foresters are told.
And all so still! so still the air
That...Read more of this...

To Imagination

by Emily Brontë
 When weary with the long day's care,
And earthly change from pain to pain,
And lost and ready to despair,
Thy kind voice calls me back again:
Oh, my true friend! I am not lone,
While thou canst speak with such a tone! 

So hopeless is the world without;
The world within I doubly prize;
Thy world, where guile, and hate, and doubt,
And cold suspicion never...Read more of this...

The Wifes Will

by Charlotte Bronte
 Sit still­ a word­ a breath may break 
(As light airs stir a sleeping lake,) 
The glassy calm that soothes my woes, 
The sweet, the deep, the full repose. 
O leave me not ! for ever be 
Thus, more than life itself to me ! 

Yes, close beside thee, let me kneel­ 
Give me thy hand that I may...Read more of this...

An Apology for my fearfull temper

by Anne Kingsmill Finch
 Tis true of courage I'm no mistress
No Boadicia nor Thalestriss
Nor shall I e'er be famed hereafter
For such a Soul as Cato's Daughter
Nor active valour nor enduring 
Nor leading troops nor forts securing
Like Teckley's wife or Pucell valiant
Will e'er be reckonded for my talent
Who all things fear whilst day is shining
And my own shadow light declining 
And from the Spleen's...Read more of this...

The Last Man

by Thomas Campbell
 All worldly shapes shall melt in gloom, 
The Sun himself must die, 
Before this mortal shall assume 
Its Immortality! 
I saw a vision in my sleep 
That gave my spirit strength to sweep 
Adown the gulf of Time! 
I saw the last of human mould, 
That shall Creation's death behold, 
As Adam saw her prime! 

The Sun's eye had...Read more of this...

Winding River (1)

by Du Fu
 One petal blossom fly reduce but spring Wind flutter ten thousand points now sorrow person Now watch soon exhaust flower pass eyes Not satisfied much wine enter lip River on little hall nest halcyon bird Decorative border high tomb lie unicorn Careful investigate natural law must seek joy What use undeserved reputation trip up this body Read more of this...

The Vain King

by Henry Van Dyke
 In robes of Tyrian blue the King was drest,
A jewelled collar shone upon his breast,
A giant ruby glittered in his crown -----
Lord of rich lands and many a splendid town.
In him the glories of an ancient line
Of sober kings, who ruled by right divine,
Were centred; and to him with loyal awe
The people looked for leadership and law.
Ten thousand knights,...Read more of this...

Hymn 75

by Isaac Watts
 The description of Christ the beloved.

SS 5:9-16. 

The wond'ring world inquires to know
Why I should love my Jesus so:
What are his charms," say they, "above
The objects of a mortal love?"

Yes! my Beloved, to my sight
Shows a sweet mixture, red and white:
All human beauties, all divine,
In my Beloved meet and shine.

White is his soul, from blemish free;
Red with the blood...Read more of this...

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