Famous Woman Poems by Famous Poets

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

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The Old Woman Of Harrow

by Mother Goose
There was an old woman of Harrow,
Who visited in a wheelbarrow;
   And her servant before,
   Knocked loud at each door,
To announce the old woman of Harrow....Read more of this...

To A Poor Old Woman

by William Carlos (WCW) Williams
 munching a plum on
the street a paper bag
of them in her hand

They taste good to her
They taste good
to her. They taste
good to her

You can see it by
the way she gives herself
to the one half
sucked out in her hand

Comforted
a solace of ripe plums
seeming to fill the air
They taste good to her...Read more of this...

Woman

by The Bible
“This is at last bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh.
This one will be called Woman,
Because from man this one was taken.”
...Read more of this...

Old Woman

by Carl Sandburg
 THE owl-car clatters along, dogged by the echo
From building and battered paving-stone.
The headlight scoffs at the mist,
And fixes its yellow rays in the cold slow rain;
Against a pane I press my forehead
And drowsily look on the walls and sidewalks.

The headlight finds the way
And life is gone from the wet and the welter--
Only an old woman, bloated, disheveled and bleared.
Far-wandered...Read more of this...

The Virtue Of Woman

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Man of virtue has need;-into life with boldness he plunges,
Entering with fortune more sure into the hazardous strife;
But to woman one virtue suffices; it is ever shining
Lovingly forth to the heart; so let it shine to the eye!...Read more of this...

The Woman Of Exeter

by Mother Goose
There dwelt an old woman at Exeter;
When visitors came it sore vexed her,
    So for fear they should eat,
    She locked up all her meat,
This stingy old woman of Exeter....Read more of this...

Song from The Silent Woman

by Ben Jonson
 Still to be neat, still to be dressed,
As you were going to a feast;
Still to be powdered, still perfumed:
Lady, it is to be presumed,
Though art's hid causes are not found,
All is not sweet, all is not sound.

Give me a look, give me a face,
That makes simplicity a grace;
Robes loosely flowing, hair as free;
Such sweet neglect more taketh me
Than all...Read more of this...

Woman In Love

by Rainer Maria Rilke
 That is my window. Just now
I have so softly wakened.
I thought that I would float.
How far does my life reach,
and where does the night begin

I could think that everything
was still me all around;
transparent like a crystal's
depths, darkened, mute.

I could keep even the stars
within me; so immense
my heart seems to me; so willingly
it let him go again.

whom I began perhaps...Read more of this...

The Old Woman Of Gloucester

by Mother Goose
There was an old woman of Gloucester,
Whose parrot two guineas it cost her,
    But its tongue never ceasing,
    Was vastly displeasing
To the talkative woman of Gloucester....Read more of this...

I am a Black Woman

by Mari Evans
I am a black woman 
the music of my song 
some sweet arpeggio of tears 
is written in a minor key 
and I 
can be heard humming in the night 
Can be heard 
humming 
in the night

I saw my mate leap screaming to the sea 
and I/with these hands/cupped the lifebreath 
from my issue in the canebrake 
I lost Nat's...Read more of this...

Curse of the Cat Woman

by Edward Field
 It sometimes happens
that the woman you meet and fall in love with
is of that strange Transylvanian people
with an affinity for cats.

You take her to a restuarant, say, or a show,
on an ordinary date, being attracted
by the glitter in her slitty eyes and her catlike walk,
and afterwards of course you take her in your arms
and she turns into a black...Read more of this...

The Crazy Woman

by Gwendolyn Brooks
 I shall not sing a May song.
A May song should be gay.
I'll wait until November
And sing a song of gray.

I'll wait until November
That is the time for me.
I'll go out in the frosty dark
And sing most terribly.

And all the little people
Will stare at me and say,
"That is the Crazy Woman
Who would not sing in May."...Read more of this...

Portrait Of An Old Woman On The College Tavern Wall

by Anne Sexton
 Oh down at the tavern
the children are singing
around their round table
and around me still.
Did you hear what it said?
I only said
how there is a pewter urn
pinned to the tavern wall,
as old as old is able
to be and be there still.
I said, the poets are tere
I hear them singing and lying
around their round table
and around me still.
Across the room is...Read more of this...

Dream Song 100: How this woman came by the courage

by John Berryman
 How this woman came by the courage, how she got
the courage, Henry bemused himself in a frantic hot
night of the eight of July,
where it came from, did once the Lord frown down
upon her ancient cradle thinking 'This one
will do before she die

for two and seventy years of chipped indignities
at least,' and with his thunder clapped a promise?
In that far...Read more of this...

The Singing-Woman From The Woods Edge

by Edna St. Vincent Millay
 What should I be but a prophet and a liar,
Whose mother was a leprechaun, whose father was a friar?
Teethed on a crucifix and cradled under water,
What should I be but the fiend's god-daughter?

And who should be my playmates but the adder and the frog,
That was got beneath a furze-bush and born in a bog?
And what should be my singing,...Read more of this...

There was a man and a woman

by Stephen Crane
 i

There was a man and a woman
Who sinned.
Then did the man heap the punishment
All upon the head of her,
And went away gaily.

ii

There was a man and a woman
Who sinned.
And the man stood with her.
As upon her head, so upon his,
Fell blow and blow,
And all people screaming, "Fool!"
He was a brave heart.

iii

He was a brave heart.
Would you speak with him,...Read more of this...

Honor To Woman

by Friedrich von Schiller
 Honor to woman! To her it is given
To garden the earth with the roses of heaven!
All blessed, she linketh the loves in their choir
In the veil of the graces her beauty concealing,
She tends on each altar that's hallowed to feeling,
And keeps ever-living the fire!

From the bounds of truth careering,
Man's strong spirit wildly sweeps,
With each hasty impulse veering
Down to passion's...Read more of this...

The Old Woman From France

by Mother Goose
There came an old woman from France
Who taught grown-up children to dance;
    But they were so stiff,
    She sent them home in a sniff,
This sprightly old woman from France....Read more of this...

The Woman At The Gate

by Robert William Service
 "Where is your little boy to-day?"
 I asked her at the gate.
"I used to see him at his play,
 And often I would wait:
He was so beautiful, so bright,
 I watched him with delight.

"He had a tiny motor-car
 And it was painted red;
He wound it up; it ran so far,
 So merrily it sped.
I think he told me that...Read more of this...

A Woman in the Garden of Light

by Dejan Stojanovic
To find the hidden place 
Longing freely to explore 
Break obstacles and recognize 
Invisible sparks emanating 
From the deserved discovery 
Of nothing between us 
Shining longing only 
Wakening stars in the Garden 
Witnessing the birth of new landscapes, 
Future cities and temples 
Hearing new stories, falling 
From the fountains of the secret art 
All old sounds and colors reviving 
And...Read more of this...

The Complaint Of A Forsaken Indian Woman

by William Wordsworth
[When a Northern Indian, from sickness, is unable to continue his journey with his companions; he is left behind, covered over with Deer-skins, and is supplied with water, food, and fuel if the situation of the place will afford it. He is informed of the track which his companions intend to pursue, and if he is unable to follow, or...Read more of this...

I Knew A Woman

by Theodore Roethke
 I knew a woman, lovely in her bones,
When small birds sighed, she would sigh back at them;
Ah, when she moved, she moved more ways than one:
The shapes a bright container can contain!
Of her choice virtues only gods should speak,
Or English poets who grew up on Greek
(I'd have them sing in chorus, cheek to cheek.)

How well her wishes went! She...Read more of this...

A Light Woman

by Robert Browning
 I.

So far as our story approaches the end,
 Which do you pity the most of us three?—
My friend, or the mistress of my friend
 With her wanton eyes, or me?

 II.

My friend was already too good to lose,
 And seemed in the way of improvement yet,
When she crossed his path with her hunting-noose
 And over him drew her net.

...Read more of this...

Humming Bird Woman

by Carl Sandburg
 WHY should I be wondering
How you would look in black velvet and yellow? in orange and green?
I who cannot remember whether it was a dash of blue
Or a whirr of red under your willow throat—
Why do I wonder how you would look in humming-bird feathers?...Read more of this...

Epitaph For A Romantic Woman

by Louise Bogan
 She has attained the permanence 
She dreamed of, where old stones lie sunning. 
Untended stalks blow over her 
Even and swift, like young men running. 

Always in the heart she loved 
Others had lived, -- she heard their laughter. 
She lies where none has lain before, 
Where certainly none will follow after....Read more of this...

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