Poems

Poems List

Explore poems from our collection

Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Uriel.

Uriel.
IT fell in the ancient periods
Which the brooding soul surveys,
Or ever the wild Time coin'd itself
Into calendar months and days.

630
Roald Dahl
Roald Dahl

Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales

Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,…

300
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

To Eva

To Eva
O Fair and stately maid, whose eye
Was kindled in the upper sky
At the same torch that lighted mine;
For so I must interpret still

368
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

To-day

To-day
I rake no coffined clay, nor publish wide
The resurrection of departed pride.
Safe in their ancient crannies, dark and deep,
Let kings and…

338
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Snow-Storm

The Snow-Storm
Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the whited air

322
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Threnody

Threnody
The south-wind brings
Life, sunshine, and desire,
And on every mount and meadow
Breathes aromatic fire,
But over the dead he has…

376
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Problem

The Problem
I like the church; I like a cowl;
I love a prophet of the soul;
And on my heart monastic aisles
Fall like sweet strains, or pensive s…

347
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Romany Girl

The Romany Girl
The sun goes down, and with him takes
The coarseness of my por attire;
The fair moon mounts, and aye the flame
Of Gypsy beauty bl…

321
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Park

The Park
The prosperous and beautiful
To me seem not to wear
The yoke of conscience masterful,
Which galls me everywhere.
I cannot shake …

368
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Forerunners

The Forerunners
Long I followed happy guides,—
I could never reach their sides.
Their step is forth, and, ere the day,
Breaks up their leag…

290
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Amulet

The Amulet
Your picture smiles as first it smiled,
The ring you gave is still the same,
Your letter tells, O changing child,
No tidings since it …

406
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Bell

The Bell
I love thy music, mellow bell,
I love thine iron chime,
To life or death, to heaven or hell,
Which calls the sons of Time.
Thy v…

340
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tact

Tact
What boots it, thy virtue,
What profit thy parts,
While one thing thou lackest,
The art of all arts!
The only credentials,
P…

379
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Sursum Corda

Sursum Corda
Seek not the Spirit, if it hide,
Inexorable to thy zeal:
Baby, do not whine and chide;
Art thou not also real?
Why should'st…

384
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Seashore

Seashore
I heard or seemed to hear the chiding Sea
Say, Pilgrim, why so late and slow to come?
Am I not always here, thy summer home?
Is not my v…

396
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Rubies

Rubies
They brought me rubies from the mine,
And held them to the sun;
I said, they are drops of frozen wine
From Eden's vats that run.
I…

354
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ode To William H. Channing

Ode To William H. Channing
Though loth to grieve
The evil time's sole patriot,
I cannot leave
My buried thought
For the priest's cant,

341
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ode

Ode
Inscribed to W.H. Channing
Though loath to grieve
The evil time's sole patriot,
I cannot leave
My honeyed thought
For the p…

393
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Monadnoc

Monadnoc
Thousand minstrels woke within me,
"Our music's in the hills; "—
Gayest pictures rose to win me,
Leopard-colored rills.
Up…

478
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

My Garden

My Garden
If I could put my woods in song
And tell what's there enjoyed,
All men would to my gardens throng,
And leave the cities void.
I…

390
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Merops

Merops
What care I, so they stand the same,—
Things of the heavenly mind,—
How long the power to give them fame
Tarries yet behind? <…

357
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Merlin I

Merlin I
Thy trivial harp will never please
Or fill my craving ear;
Its chords should ring as blows the breeze,
Free, peremptory, clear.

386
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Grace

Grace
How much, preventing God! how much I owe
To the defenses thou hast round me set:
Example, custom, fear, occasional slow,
These scorned bond…

390
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Initial Love

Initial Love
Venus, when her son was lost,
Cried him up and down the coast,
In hamlets, palaces, and parks,
And told the truant by his marks,

433