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Famous Whereof Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...sheer and strong, 
Expugnable but by a nation's rue 
And bowing down before that equal shrine 
By all men held divine, 
Whereof his band and he were the most holy sign. 


VII 

O bitter, bitter shade! 
Wilt thou not put the scorn 
And instant tragic question from thine eye? 
Do thy dark brows yet crave 
That swift and angry stave -- 
Unmeet for this desirous morn -- 
That I have striven, striven to evade? 
Gazing on him, must I not deem they err 
Whose careless lips in stree...Read more of this...
by Moody, William Vaughn



...n temple of our hart,
Till that good god make church and churchmen starue.
True, that true beautie virtue is indeed,
Whereof this beautie can be but a shade,
Which, elements with mortal mixture breed.
True, that on earth we are but pilgrims made,
And should in soule up to our countrey moue:
True, and yet true that I must Stella loue. 
VI 

Some louers speake, when they their Muses entertaine,
Of hopes begot by feare, of wot not what desires,
Of force of heau'nly b...Read more of this...
by Sidney, Sir Philip
...e things lost
In an amazement that is all unware;
But wonderfully knowing what we are!
Lo, now that body is the song whereof
Spirit is mood, knoweth not our delight?
Knoweth not beautifully now our love,
That Life, here to this festival bid come
Clad in his splendour of worldly day and night,
Filled and empower’d by heavenly lust, is all
The glad imagination of the Spirit?

He

Were it not so, Love could not be at all:
Nought could be, but a yearning to fulfil
...Read more of this...
by Abercrombie, Lascelles
...thought `he is happy, he is singing
Hosanna in the highest: yonder shines
The Sun of Righteousness, and these be palms
Whereof the happy people strowing cried
"Hosanna in the highest!"' Here she woke,
Resolved, sent for him and said wildly to him
`There is no reason why we should not wed.'
`Then for God's sake,' he answer'd, `both our sakes,
So you will wed me, let it be at once.' 

So these were wed and merrily rang the bells,
Merrily rang the bells and they were wed.
But n...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...t was, or half the world 
Had ventured--HAD the thing I spake of been 
Mere gold--but this was all of that true steel, 
Whereof they forged the brand Excalibur, 
And lightnings played about it in the storm, 
And all the little fowl were flurried at it, 
And there were cries and clashings in the nest, 
That sent him from his senses: let me go.' 

Then Bellicent bemoaned herself and said, 
'Hast thou no pity upon my loneliness? 
Lo, where thy father Lot beside the hearth 
Lies ...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord



...hey bide their time, and well can prove,
If need were, their line from Jove,
Of the same stuff, and so allayed,
As that whereof the sun is made;
And of that fibre quick and strong
Whose throbs are love, whose thrills are song. 
Now in sordid weeds they sleep,
Their secret now in dulness keep.
Yet, will you learn our ancient speech,
These the masters who can teach,
Fourscore or a hundred words
All their vocal muse affords,
These they turn in other fashion
Than the writer or th...Read more of this...
by Emerson, Ralph Waldo
...air
Of souls that passed reluctantly and sicken for the air;
You, too, have entered Hell,
And issued thence; but thence whereof I speak
None has returned;—for thither fury brings
Only the driven ghosts of them that flee before all things.
Oblivion is the name of this abode: and she is there."

Oh, radiant Song! Oh, gracious Memory!
Be long upon this height
I shall not climb again!
I know the way you mean,—the little night,
And the long empty day,—never to see
Again the angry ...Read more of this...
by St. Vincent Millay, Edna
...ess 
At length from us may find, who overcomes 
By force hath overcome but half his foe. 
Space may produce new Worlds; whereof so rife 
There went a fame in Heaven that he ere long 
Intended to create, and therein plant 
A generation whom his choice regard 
Should favour equal to the Sons of Heaven. 
Thither, if but to pry, shall be perhaps 
Our first eruption--thither, or elsewhere; 
For this infernal pit shall never hold 
Celestial Spirits in bondage, nor th' Abyss 
Long u...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...e with rage. 
Far off from these, a slow and silent stream, 
Lethe, the river of oblivion, rolls 
Her watery labyrinth, whereof who drinks 
Forthwith his former state and being forgets-- 
Forgets both joy and grief, pleasure and pain. 
Beyond this flood a frozen continent 
Lies dark and wild, beat with perpetual storms 
Of whirlwind and dire hail, which on firm land 
Thaws not, but gathers heap, and ruin seems 
Of ancient pile; all else deep snow and ice, 
A gulf profound as ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...isage, and betrayed 
Him counterfeit, if any eye beheld. 
For heavenly minds from such distempers foul 
Are ever clear. Whereof he soon aware, 
Each perturbation smoothed with outward calm, 
Artificer of fraud; and was the first 
That practised falsehood under saintly show, 
Deep malice to conceal, couched with revenge: 
Yet not enough had practised to deceive 
Uriel once warned; whose eye pursued him down 
 The way he went, and on the Assyrian mount 
 Saw him disfigured, mor...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...ve; as lords 
'Possess it, and all things that therein live, 
'Or live in sea, or air; beast, fish, and fowl. 
'In sign whereof, each bird and beast behold 
'After their kinds; I bring them to receive 
'From thee their names, and pay thee fealty 
'With low subjection; understand the same 
'Of fish within their watery residence, 
'Not hither summoned, since they cannot change 
'Their element, to draw the thinner air.' 
As thus he spake, each bird and beast behold 
Approaching ...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...
Adam, from whose dear side I boast me sprung, 
And gladly of our union hear thee speak, 
One heart, one soul in both; whereof good proof 
This day affords, declaring thee resolved, 
Rather than death, or aught than death more dread, 
Shall separate us, linked in love so dear, 
To undergo with me one guilt, one crime, 
If any be, of tasting this fair fruit; 
Whose virtue for of good still good proceeds, 
Direct, or by occasion, hath presented 
This happy trial of thy love, w...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...ced; how is it now become 
So dreadful to thee? That thou art naked, who 
Hath told thee? Hast thou eaten of the tree, 
Whereof I gave thee charge thou shouldst not eat? 
To whom thus Adam sore beset replied. 
O Heaven! in evil strait this day I stand 
Before my Judge; either to undergo 
Myself the total crime, or to accuse 
My other self, the partner of my life; 
Whose failing, while her faith to me remains, 
I should conceal, and not expose to blame 
By my complaint: but st...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...t despair not of his final pardon
Whose ear is ever open; and his eye
Gracious to re-admit the suppliant;
In confidence whereof I once again
Defie thee to the trial of mortal fight,
By combat to decide whose god is God,
Thine or whom I with Israel's Sons adore.

Har: Fair honour that thou dost thy God, in trusting
He will accept thee to defend his cause,
A Murtherer, a Revolter, and a Robber. 

Sam: Tongue-doubtie Giant, how dost thou prove me these?

Har: Is not thy Nation s...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...hearths grew wide to give us room; 
We stole with her a frightened look 
At the gray wizard's conjuring-book, 
The fame whereof went far and wide 
Through all the simple country side; 
We heard the hawks at twilight play, 
The boat-horn on Piscataqua, 
The loon's weird laughter far away; 
We fished her little trout-brook, knew 
What flowers in wood and meadow grew, 
What sunny hillsides autumn-brown 
She climbed to shake the ripe nuts down, 
Saw where in sheltered cove and ba...Read more of this...
by Whittier, John Greenleaf
...Afar or nigh around,
That I could think there trembled through
     His happy good-night air
Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew
     And I was unaware....Read more of this...
by Hardy, Thomas
...e wean'd from earthly love.
Joy's ladder it is, reaching from home to home,
The best of all the work that all was good;
Whereof 'twas writ the angels aye upclomb,
Down sped, and at the top the Lord God stood. 
But I my time abuse, my eyes by day
Center'd on thee, by night my heart on fire--
Letting my number'd moments run away--
Nor e'en 'twixt night and day to heaven aspire:
So true it is that what the eye seeth not
But slow is loved, and loved is soon forgot. 

36
O my life...Read more of this...
by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...on 
Of man’s immortal vision. 
Shall we, because Eternity records
Too vast an answer for the time-born words 
We spell, whereof so many are dead that once 
In our capricious lexicons 
Were so alive and final, hear no more 
The Word itself, the living word
That none alive has ever heard 
Or ever spelt, 
And few have ever felt 
Without the fears and old surrenderings 
And terrors that began
When Death let fall a feather from his wings 
And humbled the first man? 
Because the we...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington
...
But languidly adjust 
My vapid vegetable loves 
With anthers and with dust: 

"For ah! my friend, the days were brief 
Whereof the poets talk, 
When that, which breathes within the leaf, 
Could slip its bark and walk. 

"But could I, as in times foregone, 
From spray, and branch, and stem, 
Have suck'd and gather'd into one 
The life that spreads in them, 

"She had not found me so remiss; 
But lightly issuing thro', 
I would have paid her kiss for kiss, 
With usury thereto....Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...ad he damned* wedding out of dread;** *condemned **doubt
And certes, if there were no seed y-sow,* *sown
Virginity then whereof should it grow?
Paul durste not commanden, at the least,
A thing of which his Master gave no hest.* *command
The dart* is set up for virginity; *goal 6
Catch whoso may, who runneth best let see.
But this word is not ta'en of every wight,
*But there as* God will give it of his might. *except where*
I wot well that th' apostle was a maid,
But natheless...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry