Theme · 342 poems

Poems About Peace

Still waters: poems of calm, acceptance, and rest — many of them beloved as readings at memorials, quiet ceremonies, and the end of long days.

Peace in poetry is rarely political and almost always a place. Yeats built the definitive one: 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' answers the noise of "the pavements grey" with a cabin, nine bean-rows, and the line that gives the theme its texture — "peace comes dropping slow". The peace is not asserted, it is constructed, item by item, until the reader can stand in it.

That is why so many of these poems end up read aloud at memorials and quiet ceremonies: they offer somewhere to be rather than something to believe. The tradition runs from the devotional lyrics through Rossetti's rest poems to Dickinson's stillness, and it works best when it stays physical — water, light, a room, a hillside. If you are choosing a reading for a service, look for the poem with the most concrete quiet in it; abstraction does not comfort anyone at short notice.

LengthForm

Crossing the Bar

Alfred, Lord Tennyson · 1889

Sunset and evening star,And one clear call for me!And may there be no moaning of the bar,

17 lines · lyric

Abou Ben Adhem

Leigh Hunt · 1834

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,And saw within the moonlight in his room,

18 lines · narrative

No Coward Soul Is Mine

Emily Brontë · 1846

The following are the last lines my sister Emily ever wrote.No coward soul is mine,No trembler in the world's storm-troubled sphere:

29 lines · lyric

In the Bleak Midwinter

Christina Rossetti · 1872

1. In the bleak mid-winterFrosty wind made moan,Earth stood hard as iron,

40 lines · lyric

Thanatopsis

William Cullen Bryant · 1817

To him who in the love of Nature holdsCommunion with her visible forms, she speaksA various language; for his gayer hours

81 lines · elegy

Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

Thomas Gray · 1751

It would almost seem that poetry has for its greatest mission the lesson of a proper humility.The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea.

128 lines · elegy

Soft Music

Robert Herrick

The mellow touch of music most doth woundThe soul, when it doth rather sigh, than sound.

2 lines · lyric

Snow on the Mailbox

The QuillOak Editors

snow on the mailbox —all the news the morning bringsis white, and silent

3 lines · haiku

What Is to Be Done, O Moslems? (opening lines)

Rumi (Jalāl al-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī)

What is to be done, O Moslems? for I do not recognise myself.I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Gabr, nor Moslem.I am not of the East, nor of the West, nor of the land, nor of the sea;

3 lines · ghazal

Lest this be Heaven indeed

Emily Dickinson

Lest this be Heaven indeedAn Obstacle is givenThat always gauges a Degree

4 lines · lyric

Not One by Heaven defrauded stay

Emily Dickinson

Not One by Heaven defrauded stay —Although he seem to stealHe restitutes in some sweet way

4 lines · lyric

The Definition of Beauty is

Emily Dickinson

The Definition of Beauty isThat Definition is none —Of Heaven, easing Analysis,

4 lines · lyric

Who has not found the Heaven—below

Emily Dickinson

Who has not found the Heaven — below —Will fail of it above —For Angels rent the House next ours,

4 lines · lyric

To Harriet

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Ever as now with Love and Virtue's glowMay thy unwithering soul not cease to burn,Still may thine heart with those pure thoughts o'erflow

4 lines · lyric

Upon a Child

Robert Herrick

Here a pretty baby liesSung asleep with lullabies;Pray be silent, and not stir

4 lines · lyric

The Angler Rose, He Took His Rod

Robert Louis Stevenson

THE angler rose, he took his rod,He kneeled and made his prayers to God.The living God sat overhead:

4 lines · lyric

Letting Go (a Crapsey Cinquain)

The QuillOak Editors

Dusk fallsthe maples lettheir last gold go without

5 lines · cinquain

Morning Tea

The QuillOak Editors

steam off the green teacurls once, considers the room,then is gone — the cup

5 lines · tanka

Winter (a Cinquain)

The QuillOak Editors

Wintersilent, silverdrifting, hushing, settling

5 lines · cinquain

The Kitchen at Night

The QuillOak Editors

The house has gone to sleep around me and the kitchen keeps its one small light.The refrigerator hums the way it has hummed through every house I have ever lived in.My mother stood here, and her mother, each of them alone with the late hour and the quiet.

5 lines · prose poem

Immured in Heaven!

Emily Dickinson

Immured in Heaven!What a Cell!Let every Bondage be,

5 lines · lyric

A little Madness in the Spring

Emily Dickinson

A little Madness in the SpringIs wholesome even for the King,But God be with the Clown —

6 lines · lyric

One Year ago—jots what?

Emily Dickinson

One Year ago — jots what?God — spell the word! I — can't —Was't Grace? Not that —

6 lines · lyric

Though the great Waters sleep

Emily Dickinson

Though the great Waters sleep,That they are still the Deep,We cannot doubt —

6 lines · lyric

Farewell to North Devon

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Where man's profane and tainting handNature's primaeval loveliness has marred,And some few souls of the high bliss debarred

6 lines · lyric

To Music: a Song

Robert Herrick

Music, thou queen of heaven, care-charming spell,That strik'st a stillness into hell;Thou that tam'st tigers, and fierce storms, that rise,

6 lines · lyric

Kissing Helena

Percy Bysshe Shelley

FROM THE GREEK OF PLATO.Kissing Helena, togetherWith my kiss, my soul beside it

7 lines · lyric

Spirit of Plato

Percy Bysshe Shelley

FROM THE GREEK.Eagle! why soarest thou above that tomb?To what sublime and star-ypaven home

7 lines · lyric

Home-Thoughts, From the Sea

Robert Browning

Nobly, nobly, Cape Saint Vincent to the Northwest died away;Sunset ran, one glorious blood-red, reeking into Cadiz Bay;Bluish 'mid the burning water, full in face Trafalgar lay;

7 lines · lyric

What the River Knows

The QuillOak Editors

The river does not endwhere it meets the sea —it only loses its banks,

8 lines · free verse

The Stone Rolled Back

The QuillOak Editors

They came with spices, not with hope,to tend what death had done,and found the heavy stone rolled back,

8 lines · lyric

A Tooth upon Our Peace

Emily Dickinson

A Tooth upon Our PeaceThe Peace cannot deface —Then Wherefore be the Tooth?

8 lines · lyric

Angels, in the early morning

Emily Dickinson

Angels, in the early morningMay be seen the Dews among,Stooping — plucking — smiling — flying —

8 lines · lyric

Bless God, he went as soldiers

Emily Dickinson

Bless God, he went as soldiers,His musket on his breast —Grant God, he charge the bravest

8 lines · lyric

Except the Heaven had come so near

Emily Dickinson

Except the Heaven had come so near —So seemed to choose My Door —The Distance would not haunt me so —

8 lines · lyric

Forever honored by the Tree

Emily Dickinson

Forever honored by the TreeWhose Apple WinterwornEnticed to Breakfast from the Sky

8 lines · lyric

Given in Marriage unto Thee

Emily Dickinson

Given in Marriage unto TheeOh thou Celestial Host —Bride of the Father and the Son

8 lines · lyric

God permits industrious Angels

Emily Dickinson

God permits industrious Angels —Afternoons — to play —I met one — forgot my Schoolmates —

8 lines · lyric

Heaven is so far of the Mind

Emily Dickinson

Heaven is so far of the MindThat were the Mind dissolved —The Site — of it — by Architect

8 lines · lyric

How far is it to Heaven?

Emily Dickinson

How far is it to Heaven?As far as Death this way —Of River or of Ridge beyond

8 lines · lyric

I never lost as much but twice

Emily Dickinson

I never lost as much but twice,And that was in the sod.Twice have I stood a beggar

8 lines · lyric

I saw no Way—The Heavens were stitched

Emily Dickinson

I saw no Way — The Heavens were stitched —I felt the Columns close —The Earth reversed her Hemispheres —

8 lines · lyric

Is Heaven a Physician?

Emily Dickinson

Is Heaven a Physician?They say that He can heal —But Medicine Posthumous

8 lines · lyric

Lightly stepped a yellow star

Emily Dickinson

Lightly stepped a yellow starTo its lofty place —Loosed the Moon her silver hat

8 lines · lyric

My life closed twice before its close

Emily Dickinson

My life closed twice before its close —It yet remains to seeIf Immortality unveil

8 lines · lyric

Nature and God—I neither knew

Emily Dickinson

Nature and God — I neither knewYet Both so well knew meThey startled, like Executors

8 lines · lyric

Nature—sometimes sears a Sapling

Emily Dickinson

Nature — sometimes sears a Sapling —Sometimes — scalps a Tree —Her Green People recollect it

8 lines · lyric

Only God—detect the Sorrow

Emily Dickinson

Only God — detect the Sorrow —Only God —The Jehovahs — are no Babblers —

8 lines · lyric

Prayer is the little implement

Emily Dickinson

Prayer is the little implementThrough which Men reachWhere Presence — is denied them.

8 lines · lyric

She's happy, with a new Content

Emily Dickinson

She's happy, with a new Content —That feels to her — like Sacrament —She's busy — with an altered Care —

8 lines · lyric

So give me back to Death

Emily Dickinson

So give me back to Death —The Death I never fearedExcept that it deprived of thee —

8 lines · lyric

Spring is the Period

Emily Dickinson

Spring is the PeriodExpress from God.Among the other seasons

8 lines · lyric

The Fact that Earth is Heaven

Emily Dickinson

The Fact that Earth is Heaven —Whether Heaven is Heaven or notIf not an Affidavit

8 lines · lyric

The inundation of the Spring

Emily Dickinson

The inundation of the SpringEnlarges every soul —It sweeps the tenement away

8 lines · lyric

The Moon upon her fluent Route

Emily Dickinson

The Moon upon her fluent RouteDefiant of a Road —The Star's Etruscan Argument

8 lines · lyric

When Roses cease to bloom, Sir

Emily Dickinson

When Roses cease to bloom, Sir,And Violets are done —When Bumblebees in solemn flight

8 lines · lyric

To the Moon

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Art thou pale for wearinessOf climbing heaven and gazing on the earth,Wandering companionless

8 lines · lyric

Matins, or Morning Prayer

Robert Herrick

When with the virgin morning thou dost rise,Crossing thyself come thus to sacrifice;First wash thy heart in innocence; then bring

8 lines · lyric

The Old Wives' Prayer

Robert Herrick

Holy-Rood, come forth and shieldUs i' th' city and the field;Safely guard us, now and aye,

8 lines · lyric

To Heaven

Robert Herrick

Open thy gatesTo him who weeping waits,And might come in,

8 lines · lyric

Common questions

What is the best poem about peace?

Yeats's 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree', for “peace comes dropping slow” — a poem that builds calm out of specific physical details rather than declaring it.

What is a good peaceful poem for a funeral or memorial?

Poems that describe a restful place work better than ones about peace in the abstract. 'The Lake Isle of Innisfree' and Christina Rossetti's rest poems are the usual choices.