Famous Views Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A poem on the rising glory of America

...ew the prospect chang'd; far off at sea 
The mariner descry's our spacious towns 
He hails the prospect of the land and views 
A new, a fair a fertile world arise; 
Onward from India's isles far east, to us 
Now fair-ey'd commerce stretches her white sails, 
Learning exalts her head, the graces smile 
And peace establish'd after horrid war 
Improves the splendor of these early times. 
But come my friends and let us trace the steps 
By which this recent happy world arose, 
To ...Read more of this...
by Brackenridge, Hugh Henry


A Servant to Servants

...r a while--but I don't know! 
Somehow the change wore out like a prescription. 
And there's more to it than just window-views 
And living by a lake. I'm past such help-- 
Unless Len took the notion, which he won't, 
And I won't ask him--it's not sure enough. 
I 'spose I've got to go the road I'm going: 
Other folks have to, and why shouldn't I? 
I almost think if I could do like you, 
Drop everything and live out on the ground-- 
But it might be, come night, I shouldn't like ...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert

An Essay On Criticism

...what the Muse imparts,
In fearless Youth we tempt the Heights of Arts,
While from the bounded Level of our Mind,
Short Views we take, nor see the lengths behind,
But more advanc'd, behold with strange Surprize
New, distant Scenes of endless Science rise!
So pleas'd at first, the towring Alps we try,
Mount o'er the Vales, and seem to tread the Sky;
Th' Eternal Snows appear already past,
And the first Clouds and Mountains seem the last:
But those attain'd, we tremble to survey...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

Ballad of the Moon

...y
with the child by the hand.

They are crying in the forge,
all the gypsies, shouting, crying.
The air is veiwing all, views all.
The air is at the viewing....Read more of this...
by García Lorca, Federico

Bishop Blougrams Apology

...Life?" 

--That way 
Over the mountain, which who stands upon 
Is apt to doubt if it be meant for a road; 
While, if he views it from the waste itself, 
Up goes the line there, plain from base to brow, 
Not vague, mistakeable! what's a break or two 
Seen from the unbroken desert either side? 
And then (to bring in fresh philosophy) 
What if the breaks themselves should prove at last 
The most consummate of contrivances 
To train a man's eye, teach him what is faith? 
And so w...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert


On Imagination

...The monarch of the day I might behold,
And all the mountains tipt with radiant gold,
But I reluctant leave the pleasing views,
Which Fancy dresses to delight the Muse;
Winter austere forbids me to aspire,
And northern tempests damp the rising fire;
They chill the tides of Fancy's flowing sea,
Cease then, my song, cease the unequal lay....Read more of this...
by Wheatley, Phillis

Paradise Lost: Book 01

...witnessed huge affliction and dismay, 
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate. 
At once, as far as Angels ken, he views 
The dismal situation waste and wild. 
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, 
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames 
No light; but rather darkness visible 
Served only to discover sights of woe, 
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace 
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes 
That comes to all, but torture without end 
Still u...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 02

...pen or concealed, alike 
My voice dissuades; for what can force or guile 
With him, or who deceive his mind, whose eye 
Views all things at one view? He from Heaven's height 
All these our motions vain sees and derides, 
Not more almighty to resist our might 
Than wise to frustrate all our plots and wiles. 
Shall we, then, live thus vile--the race of Heaven 
Thus trampled, thus expelled, to suffer here 
Chains and these torments? Better these than worse, 
By my advice; since ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Paradise Lost: Book 04

...good before him, but perverts best things 
To worst abuse, or to their meanest use. 
Beneath him with new wonder now he views, 
To all delight of human sense exposed, 
In narrow room, Nature's whole wealth, yea more, 
A Heaven on Earth: For blissful Paradise 
Of God the garden was, by him in the east 
Of Eden planted; Eden stretched her line 
From Auran eastward to the royal towers 
Of great Seleucia, built by Grecian kings, 
Of where the sons of Eden long before 
Dwelt in Te...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Song of Myself

...he groups of newly-come immigrants cover the wharf or levee; 
As the woolly-pates hoe in the sugar-field, the overseer views them from his
 saddle; 
The bugle calls in the ball-room, the gentlemen run for their partners, the
 dancers bow to each other; 
The youth lies awake in the cedar-roof’d garret, and harks to the musical
 rain; 
The Wolverine sets traps on the creek that helps fill the Huron;
The squaw, wrapt in her yellow-hemm’d cloth, is offering moccasins and
...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt

The Artists

...was stirred by bigots' murderous zest,
No guiltless blood on high ascended.
The heart that she in gentle fetters binds,
Views duty's slavish escort scornfully;
Her path of light, though fairer far it winds,
Sinks in the sun-track of morality.
Those who in her chaste service still remain,
No grovelling thought can tempt, no fate affright;
The spiritual life, so free from stain,
Freedom's sweet birthright, they receive again,
Under the mystic sway of holy might.

The purest amo...Read more of this...
by Schiller, Friedrich von

The Beasts Confession

...owns himself to blame),
He found the wisest man he could,
Without respect to friends or blood;
Nor ever acts on private views,
When he hath liberty to choose.

The sharper swore he hated play,
Except to pass an hour away:
And well he might; for, to his cost,
By want of skill he always lost;
He heard there was a club of cheats,
Who had contriv'd a thousand feats;
Could change the stock, or cog a die,
And thus deceive the sharpest eye:
Nor wonder how his fortune sunk,
His broth...Read more of this...
by Swift, Jonathan

The Dungeon

...  And still, perhaps, with faithless gleam,  Some other loiterer beguiling.   Such views the youthful bard allure,  But, heedless of the following gloom,  He deems their colours shall endure  'Till peace go with him to the tomb.  —And let him nurse his fond deceit,  And what if he must die in sorrow!  Who would not cherish dreams so sweet,  Though grief and pain may come...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William

The Pleasures of Melancholy

...plendors on th' empurpled scene;
Yet fells the hoary hermit truer joys,
As from the cliff that o'er his cavern hangs
He views the piles of fallen Persepolis
In deep arrangement hide the darksome plain.
Unbounded waste! the mouldering obelisk
Here, like a blasted oak, ascends the clouds;
Here Parian domes their vaulted halls disclose
Horrid with thorn, where lurks th' unpitying thief,
Whence flits the twilight-loving bat at eve,
And the deaf adder wreaths her spotted train,
Th...Read more of this...
by Warton, Thomas

The Princess (prologue)

...nd wires and vials fired 
A cannon: Echo answered in her sleep 
From hollow fields: and here were telescopes 
For azure views; and there a group of girls 
In circle waited, whom the electric shock 
Dislinked with shrieks and laughter: round the lake 
A little clock-work steamer paddling plied 
And shook the lilies: perched about the knolls 
A dozen angry models jetted steam: 
A petty railway ran: a fire-balloon 
Rose gem-like up before the dusky groves 
And dropt a fairy para...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

The Rape of the Lock

...rs,
With Golden Crowns and Wreaths of heav'nly Flowers,
Hear and believe! thy own Importance know,
Nor bound thy narrow Views to Things below.
Some secret Truths from Learned Pride conceal'd,
To Maids alone and Children are reveal'd:
What tho' no Credit doubting Wits may give?
The Fair and Innocent shall still believe. 
Know then, unnumbered Spirits round thee fly,
The light Militia of the lower Sky;
These, tho' unseen, are ever on the Wing,
Hang o'er the Box, and hover round...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander

The Three Voices

...by word,
His speech, half guessed at and half heard,
As might a cat a little bird. 

Then, having wholly overthrown
His views, and stripped them to the bone,
Proceeded to unfold her own. 

"Shall Man be Man? And shall he miss
Of other thoughts no thought but this,
Harmonious dews of sober bliss? 

"What boots it? Shall his fevered eye
Through towering nothingness descry
The grisly phantom hurry by? 

"And hear dumb shrieks that fill the air;
See mouths that gape, and eyes tha...Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis

The Triumph Of Eternity

...n the saints bestow'd,With eager longings fills the courts of GodFor deeper views, in that abyss of light,While mortals slumber here, content with night:Though nought, we find, below the moon, can fillThe boundless cravings of the human will.And yet, what fierce desire the fancy wingsTo gain a grasp of perishable things;Read more of this...
by Petrarch, Francesco

The Vanity of Human Wishes (excerpts)

...wn;
137 O'er Bodley's dome his future labours spread,
138 And Bacon's mansion trembles o'er his head.
139 Are these thy views? proceed, illustrious youth,
140 And virtue guard thee to the throne of Truth!
141 Yet should thy soul indulge the gen'rous heat,
142 Till captive Science yields her last retreat;
143 Should Reason guide thee with her brightest ray,
144 And pour on misty Doubt resistless day;
145 Should no false Kindness lure to loose delight,
146 Nor Praise relax, nor...Read more of this...
by Johnson, Samuel

To A Young Lady

...ay,
Advanced with speed his early way;
Each colour takes a differing die,
The orange glows, the purples fly.
The artist views the alter'd sight,
And varies with the varying light;
In vain! a sudden gust arose,
New folds ascend, new shades disclose,
And sailing on with swifter pace,
The Cloud displays another face.
In vain the painter, vex'd at heart,
Tried all the wonders of his art;
In vain he begg'd, her form to grace,
One moment she would keep her place:
For, "changing thu...Read more of this...
by Trumbull, John

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