Famous Whippoorwill Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Hiawathas Lamentation

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 In those days the Evil Spirits,
All the Manitos of mischief,
Fearing Hiawatha's wisdom,
And his love for Chibiabos,
Jealous of their faithful friendship,
And their noble words and actions,
Made at length a league against them,
To molest them and destroy them.
Hiawatha, wise and wary,
Often said to Chibiabos,
"O my brother! do not leave me,
Lest the Evil Spirits harm you!"
Chibiabos, young and heedless,
Laughing shook his coal-black...Read more of this...

Hiawathas Fasting

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 You shall hear how Hiawatha 
Prayed and fasted in the forest, 
Not for greater skill in hunting, 
Not for greater craft in fishing, 
Not for triumphs in the battle, 
And renown among the warriors, 
But for profit of the people, 
For advantage of the nations.
First he built a lodge for fasting, 
Built a wigwam in the forest, 
By the...Read more of this...

Sarah Brown

by Edgar Lee Masters
 Maurice, weep not, I am not here under this pine tree.
The balmy air of spring whispers through the sweet grass,
The stars sparkle, the whippoorwill calls,
But thou grievest, while my soul lies rapturous
In the blest Nirvana of eternal light!
Go to the good heart that is my husband,
Who broods upon what he calls our guilty love: --
Tell him that my love...Read more of this...

The Woods At Night

by May Swenson
 The binocular owl,
fastened to a limb
like a lantern
all night long,

sees where all
the other birds sleep:
towhee under leaves,
titmouse deep

in a twighouse,
sapsucker gripped
to a knothole lip,
redwing in the reeds,

swallow in the willow,
flicker in the oak -
but cannot see poor
whippoorwill

under the hill
in deadbrush nest,
who's awake, too -
with stricken eye

flayed by the moon
her brindled breast
repeats, repeats, repeats its plea
for cruelty....Read more of this...

A feather from the Whippoorwill

by Emily Dickinson
 A feather from the Whippoorwill
That everlasting -- sings!
Whose galleries -- are Sunrise --
Whose Opera -- the Springs --
Whose Emerald Nest the Ages spin
Of mellow -- murmuring thread --
Whose Beryl Egg, what Schoolboys hunt
In "Recess" -- Overhead!...Read more of this...

Hiawathas Friends

by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 Two good friends had Hiawatha, 
Singled out from all the others, 
Bound to him in closest union, 
And to whom he gave the right hand 
Of his heart, in joy and sorrow; 
Chibiabos, the musician,
And the very strong man, Kwasind.
Straight between them ran the pathway, 
Never grew the grass upon it; 
Singing birds, that utter falsehoods, 
Story-tellers, mischief-makers, 
Found...Read more of this...

Many a phrase has the English language

by Emily Dickinson
 Many a phrase has the English language --
I have heard but one --
Low as the laughter of the Cricket,
Loud, as the Thunder's Tongue --

Murmuring, like old Caspian Choirs,
When the Tide's a' lull --
Saying itself in new inflection --
Like a Whippoorwill --

Breaking in bright Orthography
On my simple sleep --
Thundering its Prospective --
Till I stir, and weep --

Not for the Sorrow,...Read more of this...

I am ashamed -- I hide

by Emily Dickinson
 I am ashamed -- I hide --
What right have I -- to be a Bride --
So late a Dowerless Girl --
Nowhere to hide my dazzled Face --
No one to teach me that new Grace --
Nor introduce -- my Soul --

Me to adorn -- How -- tell --
Trinket -- to make Me beautiful --
Fabrics of Cashmere --
Never a Gown of...Read more of this...

What the Gray-Winged Fairy Said

by Vachel Lindsay
 The moon's a gong, hung in the wild,
Whose song the fays hold dear.
Of course you do not hear it, child.
It takes a FAIRY ear.

The full moon is a splendid gong
That beats as night grows still.
It sounds above the evening song
Of dove or whippoorwill....Read more of this...

Ghost House

by Robert Frost
 I DWELL in a lonely house I know 
That vanished many a summer ago, 
And left no trace but the cellar walls, 
And a cellar in which the daylight falls, 
And the purple-stemmed wild raspberries grow. 

O'er ruined fences the grape-vines shield 
The woods come back to the mowing field; 
The orchard tree has grown one copse 
Of new...Read more of this...

Timber Wings

by Carl Sandburg
 THERE was a wild pigeon came often to Hinkley’s timber.

Gray wings that wrote their loops and triangles on the walnuts and the hazel.

 There was a wild pigeon.

There was a summer came year by year to Hinkley’s timber.

Rainy months and sunny and pigeons calling and one pigeon best of all who came.

 There was a summer.

It is so long...Read more of this...

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