Beauty comes in many forms, but one of the best ways to experience the vast beauty around us is through poetry.
Poets transcribe their world’s view onto paper, sharing perspectives on beauty we may never otherwise appreciate.
Poetry about beauty delivers a strong emotional punch, pulling us to look deeper at everything around us.
Today, we’ll share some poems on nature about creating, appreciating, discovering, and finding beauty in its many forms.
“Beauty is the Brief and Violent” by Snehal Vadher
Beauty is brief and violent
like the white thunderbolt
of Nilgiri slow and sudden
braided like her hair
one morning was a cluster
of grapes hung beside each
ear maybe it comes from where
hunger the voices of children
come breaking their way
to my heart the stones
my feet which are light
and heavy from walking
that path full and swift
the river flows eroding
the banks with its sinuous
desire gentle and unkind
the days the years’ boulders
tossed by a giant down the hill
we must climb to the sudden
sinuous blue
“The Beauty of Nature” by H. Weimer
Click HERE to for the video of this poem.
“I Died for Beauty-But Was Scarce” by Emily Dickinson
I died for beauty, but was scarce
Adjusted in the tomb,
When one who died for truth was lain
In an adjoining room.
He questioned softly why I failed?
“For beauty,” I replied.
“And I for truth,—the two are one;
We brethren are,” he said.
And so, as kinsmen met a night,
We talked between the rooms,
Until the moss had reached our lips,
And covered up our names.
“Morning or Mourning” by Jan Allison
Such precious gemstones
Morning dew shines like diamonds
God’s tears from heaven
“Dark Girl” by Mr. Damon Plant
Watch this spoken word short-film poetry HERE.
Sonnet 54 by Shakespeare
O how much more doth beauty beauteous seem,
By that sweet ornament which truth doth give!
The rose looks fair, but fairer we it deem
For that sweet odour which doth in it live.
The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye
As the perfumed tincture of the roses,
Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly
When summer’s breath their masked buds disclose:
But, for their virtue only is their show,
They live unwoo’d and unrespected fade,
Die to themselves. Sweet roses do not so;
Of their sweet deaths are sweetest odours made:
And so of you, beauteous and lovely youth,
When that shall fade, my verse distills your truth.
“A Thing of Beauty” by John Keats
A thing of beauty is a joy forever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness, but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and asleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o’er-darkn’d ways
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits. Such the sun, the moon,
Trees old and young, sprouting a shady boon
For simple sheep; and such are daffodils
With the green world they live in; and clear rills
That for themselves a cooling covert make
‘Gainst the hot season; the mid-forest brake,
Rich with a sprinkling of fair musk-rose blooms:
And such too is the grandeur of the dooms
We have imagined for the mighty dead;
An endless fountain of immortal drink,
Pouring unto us from the heaven’s brink.
“What Do You Call Beauty” by ACDT
Listen to this spoken word poem HERE.
“Beauty and Beauty” by Rupert Brooke
When Beauty and Beauty meet
All naked, fair to fair,
The earth is crying-sweet,
And scattering-bright the air,
Eddying, dizzying, closing round,
With soft and drunken laughter;
Veiling all that may befall
After — after —
Where Beauty and Beauty met,
Earth’s still a-tremble there,
And winds are scented yet,
And memory-soft the air,
Bosoming, folding glints of light,
And shreds of shadowy laughter;
Not the tears that fill the years
After — after —
“To a Dark Girl” by Gwendolyn B. Bennett
I love you for your brownness
And the rounded darkness of your breast
I love you for the breaking sadness in your voice
And shadows where your wayward eye-lids rest.
Something of old forgotten queens
Lurks in the lithe abandon of your walk
And something of the shackled slave
Sobs in the rhythm of your talk
Oh, little brown girl, born for sorrow’s mate
Keep all you have of queenliness
Forgetting that you were once were slave
And let your full lips laugh at Fate!
“She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express,
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
“Still Will I Harvest Beauty Where it Grows” by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Still, will I harvest beauty where it grows:
In colored fungus and the spotted fog
Surprised on foods forgotten; in ditch and bog
Filmed brilliant with irregular rainbows
Of rust and oil, where half a city throws
Its empty tins; and in some spongy log
Whence headlong leaps the oozy emerald frog. . . .
And a black pupil in the green scum shows.
Her the inhabiter of diverse places
Surmising at all doors, I push them all.
Oh, you that fearful of a creaking hinge
Turn back forevermore with craven faces,
I tell you Beauty bears an ultra fringe
Unguessed of you upon her gossamer shawl!
“Beauty” by Moonlight Mel
Listen to this spoken word poem HERE.
“He Tells Of The Perfect Beauty” by William Butler Yeats
O cloud-pale eyelids, dream-dimmed eyes,
The poets labouring all their days
To build a perfect beauty in rhyme
Are overthrown by a woman’s gaze
And by the unlabouring brood of the skies:
And therefore my heart will bow, when dew
Is dropping sleep, until God burn time,
Before the unlabouring stars and you.
“To The Girl With The Beautiful Eyes” by Matthew Holiday
To the girl with the beautiful eyes
There is a beauty unbound within you
A muse to my poetic verse
A song inside the silence
Something special as yet unearthed
I see a warmth and loving soul
I see a kindness and joy
I see a friend and more beyond
I see a love that stirs in dreams
I see in your eyes my sweet
Something special, inspiring
So I offer this verse to you
With love and a kindness
To the girl with the beautiful eyes
My heart belongs to you
The world holds so much beauty, and these are just a few of the great poems that touch on the beauty around us. For more writing about the many forms of beauty, check out our expansive library. CraveBooks has a large collection of best-selling books available, including many about beauty. Click here to create a free account.
