Poem

Explore 920 quotes from the following medium: Poem

Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay;
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made:
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.

Oliver Goldsmith

Read The Deserted Village at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

Moral decline Morality Economic inequality Working class

Author

Oliver Goldsmith

Source

The Deserted Village

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1770 1770s 18th century

Era

Age of Enlightenment

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Goldsmith, Oliver. The Deserted Village. London: W. Griffin, 1770, l. 51.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call a clear call that may not be denied.

John Masefield

More information about this quote

Topic

Ocean and sea

Author

John Masefield

Source

Sea Fever

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1902 1900s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Masefield, John. "Sea-Fever." Salt-Water Ballads. London: Grant Richards, 1902, I. 5.

Current Citation

Masefield, John. "Sea-Fever." Sea Fever: Selected Poems of John Masefield, edited by Philip W. Errington. Carcanet Press, 2005, I. 5.

This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks,
Bearded with moss, and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight,
Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Read Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie at poets.org

More information about this quote

Topic

The forest

Author

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Source

Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1847 1840s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie. Boston: William D. Ticknor & Co., 1847, prologue.

Current Citation

Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth. "Evangeline, A Tale of Acadie." Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Poems and Other Writings, edited by J. D. McClatchy. Library of America, 2000, prologue.

I know you Lawyers can, with ease,
Twist words and meanings as you please;
That language, by your skill made pliant,
Will bend to favour every client.

John Gay

More information about this quote

Topic

Lawyers Rhetoric Language

Author

John Gay

Source

The Dog and the Fox Fables (John Gay)

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1732 1730s 18th century

Era

Used date of death but this work was originally published in 1738. -AAM

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Gay, John. "The Dog and the Fox." Fables. London: John Knapton, Paul Knapton, and T. Cox, 1738, pt. 2, I. 1.

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

John McCrae

In Flanders Fields

Read In Flanders Fields at Poetry Foundation

More information about this quote

Topic

World War I

Author

John McCrae

Source

In Flanders Fields

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1915 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

McCrae, John. "In Flanders Fields." Punch, 8 Dec. 1915.

Love wakes men, once a lifetime each;
They lift their heavy lids, and look;
And, lo, what one sweet page can teach,
They read with joy, then shut the book.

Coventry Patmore

The Angel in the House

More information about this quote

Topic

Power of love Love

Author

Coventry Patmore

Source

The Angel in the House

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1854 1850s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Patmore, Coventry. The Angel in the House. Self-published, 1854, bk. 1, canto 8, prelude 2.

Now no joy but lacks salt
That is not dashed with pain
And weariness and fault;
I crave the stain
Of tears, the aftermark
Of almost too much love,
The sweet of bitter bark
And burning clove.

Robert Frost

More information about this quote

Topic

Yin and yang Experiencing things

Author

Robert Frost

Source

To Earthward

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1923 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Original Citation

Frost, Robert. "To Earthward." New Hampshire. Henry Holt, 1923, st. 5, I. 1.

Current Citation

Frost, Robert. "To Earthward." Robert Frost: Collected Poems, Prose, and Plays, edited by Richard Poirier and Mark Richardson. Library of America, 1995, st. 5, I. 1.

The withered primrose by the mourning river,
The faded summer’s sun from weeping fountains,
The light-blown bubble vanished for ever,
The molten snow upon the naked mountains,
Are emblems that the treasures we up-lay
Soon wither, vanish, fade, and melt away.

Edmund Bolton

More information about this quote

Topic

Accumulation of wealth Impermanence The ephemeral The only constant is change

Author

Edmund Bolton

Source

A Palinode

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1600 1600s 17th century

Era

European Renaissance

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Bolton, Edmund. A Palinode. c. 1600.

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world.

Edwin Markham

More information about this quote

Topic

Farming

Author

Edwin Markham

Source

The Man with the Hoe

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1899 1890s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Markham, Edwin. "The Man with the Hoe." San Francisco Examiner, Jan. 1899.

While classes exist no one is free.
We are not born to be slaves or to be masters.
We are born to be brothers and sisters.
What is capitalism but buying and selling of people?

Ernesto Cardenal

More information about this quote

Topic

Class conflict Power relations Equality Brotherhood Social hierarchy

Author

Ernesto Cardenal

Source

Canto Nacional

Medium

Poem

Genre

Political literature

Language

Spanish

Time

1972 1970s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Cardenal, Ernesto. Canto nacional. Ediciones Carlos Loblé, 1973.

O Woman! in our hours of ease,
Uncertain, coy, and hard to please,
And variable as the shade
By the light quivering upon aspen made;
When pain and anguish wring the brow,
A ministering angel thou!

Sir Walter Scott

Redgauntlet

Read Marmion at Project Gutenberg

More information about this quote

Topic

Nature of women Women

Author

Sir Walter Scott

Source

Redgauntlet

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1808 1800s 19th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Scott, Walter, Sir. Marmion: A Tale of Flodden Field. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co./London: William Miller and John Murray, 1808, canto 6, st. 30.

Christ of his gentleness
Thirsting and hungering,
Walked in the wilderness;
Soft words of grace He spoke
Unto lost desert-folk
That listened wondering.

Robert Graves

More information about this quote

Topic

Jesus The Gospel Christianity

Author

Robert Graves

Source

In the Wilderness

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1916 1910s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Original Citation

Graves, Robert. "In the Wilderness." Over the Brazier. c. 1916.

Current Citation

Graves, Robert. "In the Wilderness." The Complete Poems: In One Volume. Penguin Books, 2003, l. 1-6.

If all be true that I think,
There are five reasons we should drink;
Good wine-a friend-or being dry-
Or lest we should be by and by-
Or any other reason why.

Henry Aldrich

More information about this quote

Topic

Reasons to drink Alcohol

Author

Henry Aldrich

Source

Reasons for Drinking

Medium

Poem

Language

Latin

Time

1689 1680s 17th century

Authentication Score 0

Citation

Aldrich, Henry. Reasons for Drinking. c. 1689.

The people will live on.
The learning and blundering people will live on.
They will be tricked and sold and again sold
And go back to the nourishing earth for rootholds.

Carl Sandburg

Buy The People, Yes at Amazon Buy The People, Yes at Amazon

More information about this quote

Topic

Societal collapse The human condition

Author

Carl Sandburg

Source

The People, Yes

Medium

Poem

Genre

Epic poem

Language

English

Time

1936 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Sandburg, Carl. The People, Yes. Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1936, no. 107.

it wont be long now it wont be long
man is making deserts of the earth
it wont be long now
before man will have it used up
so that nothing but ants
and centipedes and scorpions
can find a living on it

Don Marquis

More information about this quote

Topic

Environmental destruction

Author

Don Marquis

Source

What the Ants are Saying

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1935 1930s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Marquis, Donald. "What the Ants are Saying." Archy Does His Part. The Evening Sun, c. 1935.

I shall not rest quiet in Montparnasse,
I shall not lie easy at Winchelsea.
You may bury my body in Sussex grass,
You may bury my tongue at Champmédy.
I shall not be there, I shall rise and pass.
Bury my heart at Wounded Knee.

Stephen Vincent Benét

American Names

Read American Names at allpoetry.com

More information about this quote

Topic

America

Author

Stephen Vincent Benét

Source

American Names

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Benét, Stephen Vincent. "American Names." Yale Review, Oct. 1927.

I have fallen in love with American names,
The sharp, gaunt names that never get fat,
The snakeskin-titles of mining-claims,
The plumed war-bonnet of Medicine Hat,
Tucson and Deadwood and Lost Mule Flat.

Stephen Vincent Benét

American Names

Read American Names at allpoetry.com

More information about this quote

Topic

America

Author

Stephen Vincent Benét

Source

American Names

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1927 1920s 20th century

Authentication Score 1

Citation

Benét, Stephen Vincent. "American Names." Yale Review, Oct. 1927.

In bombers named for girls, we burned
The cities we had learned about in school-
Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among
The people we had killed and never seen.
When we lasted long enough they gave us medals;
When we died they said, "Our casualties were low."

Randall Jarrell

More information about this quote

Topic

Razing cities World War II War

Author

Randall Jarrell

Source

Losses

Medium

Poem

Genre

War poetry

Language

English

Time

1948 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Jarrell, Randall. Losses. Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1948, I. 22.

This happened near the core
Of a world's culture. This
Occurred among higher things.
This was a philosophical conclusion.
Everybody gets what he deserves.

Alan Bold

June 1967 at Buchenwald

More information about this quote

Topic

The Holocaust

Author

Alan Bold

Source

June 1967 at Buchenwald

Medium

Poem

Genre

Political literature

Language

English

Time

1969 1960s 20th century

Authentication Score 3

Citation

Bold, Alan. A Perpetual Motion Machine. Chatto & Windus, 1969.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds,-and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of-wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there,
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air...
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I've topped the wind swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark nor ever eagle flew-
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand, and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee, Jr

More information about this quote

Topic

Flying

Author

John Gillespie Magee, Jr

Source

High Flight

Medium

Poem

Language

English

Time

1941 1940s 20th century

Authentication Score 2

Citation

Magee, John Gillespie, Jr. "High Flight." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12 Nov. 1941.