Famous Unstained Poems by Famous Poets

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

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To the Lady Margaret Ley

by John Milton
 Daughter to that good Earl, one President 
Of England’s Council and her Treasury, 
Who lived in both unstained with gold or fee, 
And left them both, more in himself content, 
Till the sad breaking of that Parliament 
Broke him, as that dishonest victory 
At Ch?ronea, fatal to liberty, 
Killed with report that old man eloquent, 
Though later born than...Read more of this...

The Landing Of The Pilgrim Fathers

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 The breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods, against a stormy sky,
Their giant branches tost;

And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and water o'er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
And the trumpet that sings of...Read more of this...

Night Words

by Philip Levine
 after Juan Ramon 


A child wakens in a cold apartment. 
The windows are frosted. Outside he hears 
words rising from the streets, words he cannot 
understand, and then the semis gear down 
for the traffic light on Houston. He sleeps 
again and dreams of another city 
on a high hill above a wide river 
bathed in sunlight, and the...Read more of this...

My Legacy

by Lucy Maud Montgomery
 My friend has gone away from me 
From shadow into perfect light, 
But leaving a sweet legacy. 

My heart shall hold it long in fee­
A grand ideal, calm and bright,
A song of hope for ministry, 

A faith of unstained purity, 
A thought of beauty for delight­
These did my friend bequeath to me; 

And, more than even these can be,...Read more of this...

The Light o the Moon

by Vachel Lindsay
 [How different people and different animals look upon the moon: showing that each creature finds in it his own mood and disposition]


The Old Horse in the City

The moon's a peck of corn. It lies 
Heaped up for me to eat. 
I wish that I might climb the path 
And taste that supper sweet. 

Men feed me straw and scanty...Read more of this...

Infantile Influence

by Victor Hugo
 ("Lorsque l'enfant parait.") 
 
 {XIX., May 11, 1830.} 


 The child comes toddling in, and young and old 
 With smiling eyes its smiling eyes behold, 
 And artless, babyish joy; 
 A playful welcome greets it through the room, 
 The saddest brow unfolds its wrinkled gloom, 
 To greet the happy boy. 
 
 If June...Read more of this...

Gandalfs Song of Lorien

by J R R Tolkien
 In Dwimordene, in Lorien
Seldom have walked the feet of men,
Few mortal eyes have seen the light
That lies there ever, long and bright.
Galadriel! Galadriel!
Clear is the water of your well;
White is the stars in your white hand;
Unmarred, unstained is leaf and land
In Dwimordene, in Lorien
More fair than thoughts of Mortal Men....Read more of this...

Boaz Asleep

by Victor Hugo
 ("Booz s'était couché.") 
 
 {Bk. II. vi.} 


 At work within his barn since very early, 
 Fairly tired out with toiling all the day, 
 Upon the small bed where he always lay 
 Boaz was sleeping by his sacks of barley. 
 
 Barley and wheat-fields he possessed, and well, 
 Though rich, loved justice; wherefore...Read more of this...

Sonnet 08 - What can I give thee back O liberal

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 What can I give thee back, O liberal
And princely giver, who hast brought the gold
And purple of thine heart, unstained, untold,
And laid them on the outside of the-wall
For such as I to take or leave withal,
In unexpected largesse? am I cold,
Ungrateful, that for these most manifold
High gifts, I render nothing back at all?
Not so; not cold,—but very poor instead.
Ask...Read more of this...

Sonnet LXX

by William Shakespeare
 That thou art blamed shall not be thy defect,
For slander's mark was ever yet the fair;
The ornament of beauty is suspect,
A crow that flies in heaven's sweetest air.
So thou be good, slander doth but approve
Thy worth the greater, being woo'd of time;
For canker vice the sweetest buds doth love,
And thou present'st a pure unstained prime.
Thou hast pass'd by the...Read more of this...

To Baynard Taylor

by Sidney Lanier
 To range, deep-wrapt, along a heavenly height,
O'erseeing all that man but undersees;
To loiter down lone alleys of delight,
And hear the beating of the hearts of trees,
And think the thoughts that lilies speak in white
By greenwood pools and pleasant passages;

With healthy dreams a-dream in flesh and soul,
To pace, in mighty meditations drawn,
From out the forest to the open knoll
Where much...Read more of this...

Dedication

by Rainer Maria Rilke
 Dedication 
These to His Memory--since he held them dear, 
Perchance as finding there unconsciously 
Some image of himself--I dedicate, 
I dedicate, I consecrate with tears-- 
These Idylls. 

And indeed He seems to me 
Scarce other than my king's ideal knight, 
`Who reverenced his conscience as his king; 
Whose glory was, redressing human wrong; 
Who spake no slander, no, nor...Read more of this...

The Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers

by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
 The breaking waves dashed high
On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods, against a stormy sky,
Their giant branches tost;

And the heavy night hung dark
The hills and water o'er,
When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,
They, the true-hearted, came;
Not with the roll of the stirring drums,
And the trumpet that sings of...Read more of this...

The Visionary

by Emily Brontë
 Silent is the house: all are laid asleep: 
One alone looks out o’er the snow-wreaths deep, 
Watching every cloud, dreading every breeze 
That whirls the wildering drift, and bends the groaning trees. 

Cheerful is the hearth, soft the matted floor; 
Not one shivering gust creeps through pane or door; 
The little lamp burns straight, its rays shoot strong and...Read more of this...

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