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Famous While Away Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...ch heart was happy and free from sorrow. 

And the weather was sunny, and really very fine,
And 900 souls had agreed to while away the time;
And they left the Craig Pier at half-past two o'clock,
Never thinking they would meet with an accidental shock. 

And after passing underneath the Bridge of Tay,
Then they took the Channel on the south side without dismay;
And Captain Methven stood on the Steamer's bridge, I do declare,
And for the passengers he seemed to have very great...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz



...ation's power; 
 Or at Pozzuoli, to the sprightly strain 
 Of tarantella danced 'neath Tuscan tower, 
 Listening, he while away the evening hour; 
 Or wake the echoes, mournful, lone and deep, 
 Of that sad city, in its dreaming bower 
 By the volcano seized, where mansions keep 
 The likeness which they wore at that last fatal sleep; 
 
 Or be his bark at Posillippo laid, 
 While as the swarthy boatman at his side 
 Chants Tasso's lays to Virgil's pleased shade, 
...Read more of this...
by Hugo, Victor
...e spectator to please. 

Chorus 

The hawthorn hedges and the beautiful wild flowers
Will help to enliven the scene and while away the hours;
And as the spectator gazes upon Keltie waterfall,
The rumbling and fumbling of the water does his heart appall. 

Chorus 

As it makes one fearful plunge into a yawning abyss below,
Fifty or sixty feet beneath, where it splashes to and fro,
And seethes and boils in a great deep pool,
And the sweet, fragrant air around it is very cool. 
...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz
...mmer afternoon,
The bees extracting honey from the leaves when in full bloom. 

There the tourist can enjoy himself and while away the hours,
Underneath the lime trees shady bowers,
And listen to the humming of the busy bees,
While they are busy gathering honey from the lime trees. 

Then there's the old burying ground near by Kinross,
And the dead that lie there turned into dusty dross,
And the gravestones are all in a state of decay,
And the old wall around it is mouldering...Read more of this...
by McGonagall, William Topaz
...ed again,
The accents tremulous and weak,
Until one hour. - There is a game,
A frivolous and foolish play,
Wherewith we while away the day;
It is - I have forgot the name -
And we to this, it seems, were set,
By some strange chance, which I forget:
I reck'd not if I won or lost,
It was enough for me to be
So near to hear, and oh! to see 
The being whom I loved the most. -
I watched her as a sentinel,
(May ours this dark night watch as well!)
Until I saw, and thus it was,
That...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)



...us seem'd varied, joyous, fair.
As children, monkeys, and mankind
To ape each other are inclin'd,
We soon, the time to while away,
A game at priests resolved to play.
Their aprons all our sisters lent
For copes, which gave us great content;
And handkerchiefs, embroider'd o'er,
Instead of stoles we also wore;
Gold paper, whereon beasts were traced,
The bishop's brow as mitre graced.

Through house and garden thus in state
We strutted early, strutted late,
Repeating with all p...Read more of this...
by von Goethe, Johann Wolfgang
...unquiet sky;
And when an hour with calmer wings
Its down upon my spirit flings,
That little time with lyre and rhyme
To while away—forbidden things—
My heart would feel to be a crime
Unless it trembled with the strings....Read more of this...
by Poe, Edgar Allan
...ass the invigoration of the night, and the chemistry of the night, and awake. 

21
I too pass from the night, 
I stay a while away, O night, but I return to you again, and love you. 

Why should I be afraid to trust myself to you? 
I am not afraid—I have been well brought forward by you;
I love the rich running day, but I do not desert her in whom I lay so long, 
I know not how I came of you, and I know not where I go with you—but I know I came
 well,
 and
 shall go well. 

I...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt
..."Where have you been this while away,
 Johnnie, Johnnie?"
'Long with the rest on a picnic lay,
 Johnnie, my Johnnie, aha!
They called us out of the barrack-yard
To Gawd knows where from Gosport Hard,
And you can't refuse when you get the card,
 And the Widow gives the party.
 (Bugle: Ta--rara--ra-ra-rara!)

"What did you get to eat and drink,
 Johnnie, Johnnie?"
Standing water as thi...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry