Famous Truest Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Princess: A Medley: Home they Brought her Warrior Dead

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 Home they brought her warrior dead:
She nor swoon'd nor utter'd cry:
All her maidens, watching, said,
"She must weep or she will die."
Then they praised him, soft and low,
Call'd him worthy to be loved,
Truest friend and noblest foe;
Yet she neither spoke nor moved.
Stole a maiden from her place,
Lightly to the warrior stepped,
Took the face-cloth from the face;
Yet she neither moved nor...Read more of this...

Dockery And Son

by Philip Larkin
 'Dockery was junior to you,
Wasn't he?' said the Dean. 'His son's here now.'
Death-suited, visitant, I nod. 'And do
You keep in touch with-' Or remember how
Black-gowned, unbreakfasted, and still half-tight
We used to stand before that desk, to give
'Our version' of 'these incidents last night'?
I try the door of where I used to live:

Locked. The lawn spreads dazzlingly wide.
A known bell...Read more of this...

The Betrothed

by Rudyard Kipling
 "You must choose between me and your cigar."
 -- BREACH OF PROMISE CASE, CIRCA 1885.


Open the old cigar-box, get me a Cuba stout,
For things are running crossways, and Maggie and I are out.

We quarrelled about Havanas -- we fought o'er a good cheroot,
And I knew she is exacting, and she says I am a brute.

Open the old cigar-box --...Read more of this...

173. Elegy on Stella

by Robert Burns
 STRAIT is the spot and green the sod
 From whence my sorrows flow;
And soundly sleeps the ever dear
 Inhabitant below.


Pardon my transport, gentle shade,
 While o’er the turf I bow;
Thy earthy house is circumscrib’d,
 And solitary now.


Not one poor stone to tell thy name,
 Or make thy virtues known:
But what avails to me-to thee,
 The sculpture of a stone?


I’ll...Read more of this...

An Epitaph

by Walter de la Mare
 ENOUGH; and leave the rest to Fame! 
'Tis to commend her, but to name. 
Courtship which, living, she declined, 
When dead, to offer were unkind: 
Nor can the truest wit, or friend, 
Without detracting, her commend. 

To say--she lived a virgin chaste 
In this age loose and all unlaced; 
Nor was, when vice is so allowed, 
Of virtue or...Read more of this...

Sonnet XLVIII

by William Shakespeare
 How careful was I, when I took my way,
Each trifle under truest bars to thrust,
That to my use it might unused stay
From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust!
But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are,
Most worthy of comfort, now my greatest grief,
Thou, best of dearest and mine only care,
Art left the prey of every vulgar thief.
Thee have...Read more of this...

56. Epistle to Davie A Brother Poet

by Robert Burns
 WHILE winds frae aff Ben-Lomond blaw,
An’ bar the doors wi’ driving snaw,
 An’ hing us owre the ingle,
I set me down to pass the time,
An’ spin a verse or twa o’ rhyme,
 In hamely, westlin jingle.
While frosty winds blaw in the drift,
 Ben to the chimla lug,
I grudge a wee the great-folk’s gift,
 That live sae bien an’ snug:
...Read more of this...

Excelsior

by Walt Whitman
 WHO has gone farthest? For lo! have not I gone farther? 
And who has been just? For I would be the most just person of the earth; 
And who most cautious? For I would be more cautious; 
And who has been happiest? O I think it is I! I think no one was ever happier than I; 
And who...Read more of this...

Tunbridge Wells

by John Wilmot
 At five this morn, when Phoebus raised his head
From Thetis' lap, I raised myself from bed,
And mounting steed, I trotted to the waters
The rendesvous of fools, buffoons, and praters,
Cuckolds, whores, citizens, their wives and daughters.

My squeamish stomach I with wine had bribed
To undertake the dose that was prescribed;
But turning head, a sudden curséd view
That innocent provision overthrew,
And without drinking,...Read more of this...

The Confessional

by Robert Browning
 [SPAIN.]

I.

It is a lie---their Priests, their Pope,
Their Saints, their ... all they fear or hope
Are lies, and lies---there! through my door
And ceiling, there! and walls and floor,
There, lies, they lie---shall still be hurled
Till spite of them I reach the world!

II.

You think Priests just and holy men!
Before they put me in this den
I was a human creature too,
With flesh and...Read more of this...

The Beauteous Flower

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 SONG OF THE IMPRISONED COUNT.

COUNT.

I KNOW a flower of beauty rare,

Ah, how I hold it dear!
To seek it I would fain repair,

Were I not prison'd here.
My sorrow sore oppresses me,
For when I was at liberty,

I had it close beside me.

Though from this castle's walls so steep

I cast mine eyes around,
And gaze oft from the lofty keep,

The flower can not...Read more of this...

The Vulgar Little Lady

by Ann Taylor
 "But, mamma, now, " said Charlotte, "pray, don't you believe
That I'm better than Jenny, my nurse? 
Only see my red shoes, and the lace on my sleeve;
Her clothes are a thousand times worse.

"I ride in my coach, and have nothing to do,
And the country folks stare at me so;
And nobody dares to control me but you
Because I'm a lady,...Read more of this...

Learn To Like

by Robert William Service
 School yourself to savour most
Joys that have but little cost;
Prove the best of life is free,
Sun and stars and sky and sea;
Eager in your eyes to please,
Proffer meadows, brooks and trees;
Nature strives for your content,
Never charging you a cent.

Learn to love a garden gay,
Flowers and fruit in rich array.
Care for dogs and singing birds,
Have for children cheery words.
Find plain...Read more of this...

Extol thee -- could I? Then I will

by Emily Dickinson
 Extol thee -- could I? Then I will
By saying nothing new --
But just the truest truth
That thou art heavenly.

Perceiving thee is evidence
That we are of the sky
Partaking thee a guaranty
Of immortality...Read more of this...

The Old Man Dreams

by Oliver Wendell Holmes
 OH for one hour of youthful joy!
Give back my twentieth spring!
I'd rather laugh, a bright-haired boy,
Than reign, a gray-beard king.

Off with the spoils of wrinkled age!
Away with Learning's crown!
Tear out life's Wisdom-written page,
And dash its trophies down!

One moment let my life-blood stream
From boyhood's fount of flame!
Give me one giddy, reeling dream
Of life all love and fame!

. . . ....Read more of this...

Home They Brought Her Warrior Dead

by Alfred Lord Tennyson
 Home they brought her warrior dead: 
She nor swooned, nor uttered cry: 
All her maidens, watching, said, 
‘She must weep or she will die.’ 

Then they praised him, soft and low, 
Called him worthy to be loved, 
Truest friend and noblest foe; 
Yet she neither spoke nor moved. 

Stole a maiden from her place, 
Lightly to the warrior stepped,...Read more of this...

365. Lines on Fergusson the Poet

by Robert Burns
 ILL-FATED genius! Heaven-taught Fergusson!
 What heart that feels and will not yield a tear,
To think Life’s sun did set e’er well begun
 To shed its influence on thy bright career.


O why should truest Worth and Genius pine
 Beneath the iron grasp of Want and Woe,
While titled knaves and idiot-Greatness shine
 In all the splendour Fortune can bestow?...Read more of this...

The Hinterland

by Robert William Service
 You speak to me, but does your speech
With truest truth your thought convey?
I listen to your words and each
Is what I wait to hear you say.
The pattern that your lips reveal,
How does it measure with your mind?
What undertones do you conceal?
Your smile is sweet - but what's behind?

I speak to you, but do I tell
The secret working of my...Read more of this...

To M.L.S

by Edgar Allan Poe
 Of all who hail thy presence as the morning-
Of all to whom thine absence is the night-
The blotting utterly from out high heaven
The sacred sun- of all who, weeping, bless thee
Hourly for hope- for life- ah! above all,
For the resurrection of deep-buried faith
In Truth- in Virtue- in Humanity-
Of all who, on Despair's unhallowed bed
Lying down to die, have suddenly...Read more of this...

517. Song—O wat ye wha's in yon town

by Robert Burns
 Chorus—O wat ye wha’s in yon town,
 Ye see the e’enin sun upon,
The dearest maid’s in yon town,
 That e’ening sun is shining on.


NOW haply down yon gay green shaw,
 She wanders by yon spreading tree;
How blest ye flowers that round her blaw,
 Ye catch the glances o’ her e’e!
 O wat ye wha’s, &c.


How blest ye birds that...Read more of this...

Easter Hymn

by Alec Derwent (A D) Hope
 Make no mistake; there will be no forgiveness; 
No voice can harm you and no hand will save; 
Fenced by the magic of deliberate darkness 
You walk on the sharp edges of the wave; 

Trouble with soul again the putrefaction 
Where Lazarus three days rotten lies content. 
Your human tears will be the seed of faction 
Murder the sequel...Read more of this...

Poem 2

by Edmund Spenser
 EArly before the worlds light giuing lampe,
His golden beame vpon the hils doth spred,
Hauing disperst the nights vnchearefull dampe,
Doe ye awake and with fresh lusty hed,
Go to the bowre of my beloued loue,
My truest turtle doue
Bid her awake; for Hymen is awake,
And long since ready forth his maske to moue,
With his bright Tead that flames with many a flake,
And...Read more of this...

Sonnet LXXVI

by Francesco Petrarch
[Pg 302] SONNET LXXVI. Donna che lieta col Principio nostro. HE CONJURES LAURA, BY THE PURE LOVE HE EVER BORE HER, TO OBTAIN FOR HIM A SPEEDY ADMISSION TO HER IN HEAVEN.  Lady, in bliss who, by our Maker's feet,As suited for thine excellent life alone,Art now enthroned in high...Read more of this...

540. Inscription to Chloris

by Robert Burns
 ’TIS Friendship’s pledge, my young, fair Friend,
 Nor thou the gift refuse,
Nor with unwilling ear attend
 The moralising Muse.


Since thou, in all thy youth and charms,
 Must bid the world adieu,
(A world ’gainst Peace in constant arms)
 To join the Friendly Few.


Since, thy gay morn of life o’ercast,
 Chill came the tempest’s lour;
(And ne’er Misfortune’s eastern blast
 Did nip...Read more of this...

You

by Lucy Maud Montgomery
 Only a long, low-lying lane
That follows to the misty sea,
Across a bare and russet plain
Where wild winds whistle vagrantly;
I know that many a fairer path
With lure of song and bloom may woo,
But oh ! I love this lonely strath
Because it is so full of you. 

Here we have walked in elder years,
And here your truest memories wait,
This spot is...Read more of this...

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