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Famous Wonder Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Dickinson, Emily
...azing sense
From ordinary Meanings—
And Attar so immense

From the familiar species
That perished by the Door—
We wonder it was not Ourselves—
Arrested it—before—

Of Pictures, the Discloser—
The Poet—it is He—
Entitles Us—by Contrast—
To ceaseless Poverty—

Of Portion—so unconscious—
The Robbing—could not harm—
Himself—to Him—a Fortune—
Exterior—to Time—

466

'Tis little I—could care for Pearls—
Who own the ample sea—
Or Brooches—when the Emperor—
Wi...Read more of this...



by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...esson completed,
Swiftly they hurried away to the forge of Basil the blacksmith.
There at the door they stood, with wondering eyes to behold him
Take in his leathern lap the hoof of the horse as a plaything,
Nailing the shoe in its place; while near him the tire of the cart-wheel
Lay like a fiery snake, coiled round in a circle of cinders.
Oft on autumnal eves, when without in the gathering darkness
Bursting with light seemed the smithy, through every cranny and crevi...Read more of this...

by Tagore, Rabindranath
...ght. 
Ever and again I open my door and look out on 
the darkness, my friend! 

I can see nothing before me. 
I wonder where lies thy path! 

By what dim shore of the ink-black river, 
by what far edge of the frowning forest, 
through what mazy depth of gloom art thou threading 
thy course to come to me, my friend?...Read more of this...

by Wilde, Oscar
...Who from Mount Ida saw the little cloud
Pass over Tenedos and lofty Troy
And knew the coming of the Queen, and bowed
In wonder at her feet, not for the sake
Of a new Helen would I bid her hand the apple take.

Then rise supreme Athena argent-limbed!
And, if my lips be musicless, inspire
At least my life: was not thy glory hymned
By One who gave to thee his sword and lyre
Like AEschylos at well-fought Marathon,
And died to show that Milton's England still could bear a son!...Read more of this...

by Keats, John
...eries;
And all its curtains of Aurorian clouds
Flush'd angerly: while sometimes eagles' wings,
Unseen before by Gods or wondering men,
Darken'd the place; and neighing steeds were heard
Not heard before by Gods or wondering men.
Also, when he would taste the spicy wreaths
Of incense, breath'd aloft from sacred hills,
Instead of sweets, his ample palate took
Savor of poisonous brass and metal sick:
And so, when harbor'd in the sleepy west,
After the full completion of fair...Read more of this...



by Cummings, Edward Estlin (E E)
...the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)  ...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...on knew, 
Still there within the inmost thought he grew. 
You could not penetrate his soul, but found 
Despite your wonder, to your own he wound. 
His presence haunted still; and from the breast 
He forced an all-unwilling interest; 
Vain was the struggle in that mental net, 
His spirit seem'd to dare you to forget! 

XX. 

There is a festival, where knights and dames, 
And aught that wealth or lofty lineage claims, 
Appear — a high-born and a welcomed guest 
To O...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...
About disposing of it. Do you know,
Considering the market, there are more
Poems produced than any other thing?
No wonder poets sometimes have to seem
So much more businesslike than businessmen.
Their wares are so much harder to get rid of.

She's one of the two best states in the Union.
Vermont's the other. And the two have been
Yokefellows in the sap yoke from of old
In many Marches. And they lie like wedges,
Thick end to thin end and thin end to th...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...ming rills, Aurora's fan, 
Lightly dispersed, and the shrill matin song 
Of birds on every bough; so much the more 
His wonder was to find unwakened Eve 
With tresses discomposed, and glowing cheek, 
As through unquiet rest: He, on his side 
Leaning half raised, with looks of cordial love 
Hung over her enamoured, and beheld 
Beauty, which, whether waking or asleep, 
Shot forth peculiar graces; then with voice 
Mild, as when Zephyrus on Flora breathes, 
Her hand soft touching...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...tain rest, 
Looking with side-curved head, curious what will come next;
Both in and out of the game, and watching and wondering at it. 

Backward I see in my own days where I sweated through fog with linguists and
 contenders; 
I have no mockings or arguments—I witness and wait. 

5
I believe in you, my Soul—the other I am must not abase itself to you; 
And you must not be abased to the other.

Loafe with me on the grass—loose the stop from your throat...Read more of this...

by Chesterton, G K
...cloud
Sight of strong lords and light?

Where seven sunken Englands
Lie buried one by one,
Why should one idle spade, I wonder,
Shake up the dust of thanes like thunder
To smoke and choke the sun?

In cloud of clay so cast to heaven
What shape shall man discern?
These lords may light the mystery
Of mastery or victory,
And these ride high in history,
But these shall not return.

Gored on the Norman gonfalon
The Golden Dragon died:
We shall not wake with ballad strings 
The...Read more of this...

by Bradstreet, Anne
...
2.78 Strangely preserv'd, yet mind it not at all.
2.79 At home, abroad, my danger's manifold
2.80 That wonder 'tis, my glass till now doth hold.
2.81 I've done: unto my elders I give way,
2.82 For 'tis but little that a child can say.

Youth. 


3.1 My goodly clothing and beauteous skin
3.2 Declare some greater riches are within,
3.3 But what is best I'll first present to view,
3.4 And then the worst, in a more ugly hue,
3....Read more of this...

by Bridges, Robert Seymour
...d the summer's best,
The mystery of joy made manifest
In love's self-answering and awakening smile;
Whereby the lips in wonder reconcile
Passion with peace, and show desire at rest,--
A grace of silence by the Greek unguesst,
That bloom'd to immortalize the Tuscan style 
When first the angel-song that faith hath ken'd
Fancy pourtray'd, above recorded oath
Of Israel's God, or light of poem pen'd;
The very countenance of plighted troth
'Twixt heaven and earth, where in one mome...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...e. 
And when she came to speak, behold her eyes 
Beyond my knowing of them, beautiful, 
Beyond all knowing of them, wonderful, 
Beautiful in the light of holiness. 
And "O my brother Percivale," she said, 
"Sweet brother, I have seen the Holy Grail: 
For, waked at dead of night, I heard a sound 
As of a silver horn from o'er the hills 
Blown, and I thought, `It is not Arthur's use 
To hunt by moonlight;' and the slender sound 
As from a distance beyond distance grew 
...Read more of this...

by Wordsworth, William
...nbsp;—The clock strikes three—a dismal knell!   Then up along the town she hies,  No wonder if her senses fail,  This piteous news so much it shock'd her,  She quite forgot to send the Doctor,  To comfort poor old Susan Gale.   And now she's high upon the down,  And she can see a mile of road,  "Oh cruel! I'm almost three-score;  Such nig...Read more of this...

by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...ry
From year to year full privily his rent.
But honestly and slyly* he it spent, *discreetly, prudently
That no man wonder'd how that he it had.
And three year in this wise his life be lad*, *led
And bare him so in peace and eke in werre*, *war
There was no man that Theseus had so derre*. *dear
And in this blisse leave I now Arcite,
And speak I will of Palamon a lite*. *little

In darkness horrible, and strong prison,
This seven year hath sitten Palamon,
Forpi...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...the roe,
     Close in her covert cowered the doe,
     The falcon, from her cairn on high,
     Cast on the rout a wondering eye,
     Till far beyond her piercing ken
     The hurricane had swept the glen.
     Faint, and more faint, its failing din
     Returned from cavern, cliff, and linn,
     And silence settled, wide and still,
     On the lone wood and mighty hill.
     IV.

     Less loud the sounds of sylvan war
     Disturbed the heights of Uam-Var,
...Read more of this...

by Blake, William
...nations believe the jews code and worship the jews god, and what 
greater subjection can be.
I heard this with some wonder, & must confess my own
conviction. After dinner I ask'd Isaiah to favour the world with
his lost works, he said none of equal value was lost. Ezekiel
said the same of his.
I also asked Isaiah what made him go naked and barefoot three
years? he answerd, the same that made our friend Diogenes the
Grecian.
I then asked Ezekiel. why he...Read more of this...

by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...aint etherial gloom
Tempering the light; upon the chariot's beam
A Janus-visaged Shadow did assume
The guidance of that wonder-winged team.
The Shapes which drew it in thick lightnings
Were lost: I heard alone on the air's soft stream
The music of their ever moving wings.
All the four faces of that charioteer
Had their eyes banded . . . little profit brings
Speed in the van & blindness in the rear,
Nor then avail the beams that quench the Sun
Or that his b...Read more of this...

by Miller, Alice Duer
...We couldn't have, my dear. . .' 'I mean the city.' 
'We burnt it?' 'Yes, you did.' 'What a pity!
No wonder people hate us. But, I say,
I'll make your father like me yet, some day.' 

XXVIII 
I settled down in Devon, 
When Johnnie went to France. 
Such a tame ending 
To a great romance— 
Two lonely women 
With nothing much to do 
But get to know each other; 
She did and I did, too. 
Mornings at the rectory 
Learning how to roll 
Bandages, an...Read more of this...

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