A beautiful poetry collection that celebrates life’s moments of silence.
Silence is hard to find in our modern world of 24/7 news and constant messages, but here you will find 100 poems celebrating life’s moments of quiet. Organized into ten sections, including Night, Loss & Absence, The Natural World, and Intimacy, these poems span twelve centuries, ranging from Old English works such as Beowulf and The Wanderer to modern poems by Benjamin Zephaniah, Jane Hirshfield, and Sarah O. Adedeji. Famous names—Shakespeare, Keats, Tennyson, and Dickinson—sit alongside lesser-known writers, and each poem is presented in clear, modern language with helpful notes. Whether you want to luxuriate in exquisite stillness, share the speechlessness of loss, laugh at awkward pauses, or rest in wordless companionship, Silence Please has a poem for every kind of quiet.
Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION
Enter Silence
WONDER
‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770–1850)
‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’
JOHN KEATS (1795–1821)
‘Silence’
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803–1882)
‘When I heard the learn’d Astronomer’
WALT WHITMAN (1819–1892)
‘The words the happy say’
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886)
‘A Springtime’
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS (1837–1920)
‘I could not sleep for thinking of the sky’
JOHN MASEFIELD (1878–1967)
‘Of Silence and the Air’
RUTH PITTER (1897–1992)
ANATOMI E S O F S I L ENCE
‘On Silence’
ALEXANDER POPE (1688–1744)
‘Fragment: Apostrophe to Silence’
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792–1822)
‘The Three Silences of Molinos’
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807–1882)
‘Sonnet: Silence’
EDGAR ALLEN POE (1809–1849)
‘Silence’
EMILY M. BARTON (C.1817–1909)
‘Silence is all we dread’
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886)
‘Golden Silences’
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830–1894)
‘To Silence’
ALICE MEYNELL (1847–1922)
‘40 [silence]’
E.E. CUMMINGS (1894–1962)
‘Cartographies of Silence’
ADRIENNE RICH (1929–2012)
‘Silence: An Assay’
JANE HIRSHFIELD (1953–)
INTIMACY
‘As an unperfect actor on the stage’
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
‘Silence’
ABRAHAM COWLEY (1618–1667)
‘When We Two Parted’
LORD BYRON (1788–1824)
‘Silence. White Rose’
FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD (1811–1850)
‘Silent Noon’
DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI (1828–1882)
‘Onycha’
MICHAEL FIELD (KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY, (1846–1914),
and EDITH EMMA COOPER, (1862–1913)
‘Silence’
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR (1872–1906)
‘Silentium Amoris’
OSCAR WILDE (1854–1900)
‘The sweet-souled instrument in silence stands’
EVELYN DOUGLAS (1860–1914)
‘Absence’
CLAUDE MCKAY (1890–1948)
‘Then’
MURIEL RUKEYSER (1913–1980)
THE NATUR A L WORLD
From The Seasons
JAMES THOMSON (1700–1748)
‘There was a boy’ 23
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770–1850)
‘Noon’
JOHN CLARE (1793–1864)
‘Speak of the North! A lonely moor’
CHARLOTTE BRONTË (1816–1855)
‘How still, how happy! These are words’
EMILY BRONTË (1818–1848)
‘Sonnet’
MATTHEW ARNOLD (1822–1888)
‘Earth’s Silences’
AGNES ETHELWYN WETHERALD (1857–1940)
‘Storm Centre’
GENEVIEVE TAGGARD (1894–1948)
‘The Horses’
TED HUGHES (1930–1998)
‘The Twenty-Fifth-Floor Air’
RILEY FAULDS (1999–)
THE QUI E T L I F E
From The Owl and the Nightingale
ANON (12TH–13TH CENTURY)
‘A Quiet Neighbour’
JOHN HEYWOOD (C.1497–C.1580)
‘Silence’
THOMAS TRAHERNE (1636 /7–1674?)
From ‘The Petition for an Absolute Retreat’
ANNE FINCH, COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA (1661–1720)
‘Solitude’
LAETITIA PILKINGTON (C.1709–1750)
From The Task
WILLIAM COWPER (1731–1800)
‘Not for that city’
CHARLOTTE MEW (1869–1928)
‘Flight’
RUPERT BROOKE (1887–1915)
‘Silence’
MARIANNE MOORE (1887–1972)
‘The Snow Party’
DEREK MAHON (1941–2020)
NIGHT
‘A Charme’
FRANCIS BEAUMONT (1584–1616)
‘Night, welcome art thou to my mind distressed’
LADY MARY WROTH (1587–1652)
‘Ye silent Nights, who sacred are to Rest’
MARY, LADY CHUDLEIGH (BAP. 1656– 1710)
‘Silent, silent night’
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757–1827)
‘Frost at Midnight’
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772–1834)
‘Silent Night’
JOSEPH MOHR (1792–1848),
trans. by JOHN FREEMAN YOUNG (1820–1885)
‘Silence’
E. NESBIT (1858–1924)
‘sleepers’
NANCY CAMPBELL (1978–)
NO WORDS
‘The Lover blames his Tongue that failed to utter his suit
in time of need’
GEORGE TURBERVILLE (1540–1597)
‘Loving in truth, and fain my love in verse to show’
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554–1586)
‘O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power’
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
‘Silence: A Sonnet’
HENRY KING (1592–1669)
‘To a Lady, who talked not much’
AARON HILL (1685–1750)
‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’
JOHN KEATS (1795–1821)
From In Memoriam A.H.H.
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON (1809–1892)
‘Grief’
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (1806–1861)
‘My best Acquaintances are those’
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886)
‘Speech and Silence’
CONSTANCE NADEN (1858–1889)
‘Dreams’
AMY LOWELL (1874–1925)
‘Silence’
C.H. SISSON (1914–2003)
LOS S & A B S ENCE
From Beowulf
ANON (8TH CENTURY)
The Wanderer
ANON (LATE 9TH/EARLY 10TH CENTURY)
‘When to the sessions of sweet silent thought’
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
‘Denial’
GEORGE HERBERT (1593–1633)
‘On the Departure of the Nightingale’
CHARLOTTE SMITH (1709–1806)
‘Silence: Sonnet’
THOMAS HOOD (1799–1845)
‘Nondum’
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844–1889)
‘Silences’
THOMAS HARDY (1840–1928)
‘Maid Quiet’
W.B. YEATS (1865–1939)
‘Silence’
D.H. LAWRENCE (1885–1930)
‘Silence’ 23
T.S. ELIOT (1888–1965)
‘The Silence’
JANE GRIFFITHS (1970–)
S I L ENC I NGS & S E L F - S I L ENC I NGS
‘Sir Walter Raleigh to the Queen’
SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1554–1618)
‘Silence’
CHRISTOPHER SMART (1722–1771)
‘The Habit of Perfection’
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844–1889)
‘A Reason for Keeping Silent’
W.B. YEATS (1865–1939)
‘Silence’
NAOMI LONG MADGETT (1923–2020)
‘The One Minutes of Silence’
BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH (1958–2023)
‘black noise’
VICTORIA ADUKWEI BULLEY (1991–)
‘Silences’
ROSE MCLARNEY (1982–)
HUS H
‘Lullay, lullow, lully, lullay’
ANON (15TH CENTURY)
‘Silence’
DORA GREENWELL (1821–82)
‘Noon-Silence (Australian Forest)’
WILLIAM SHARP (1855–1905)
‘Silence’
WALTER DE LA MARE (1873–1956)
‘The House was Quiet and the World was Calm’
WALLACE STEVENS (1879–1955)
‘Silence’
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS (1883–1963)
‘Silence’
SARA TEASDALE (1884–1933)
‘Exposure’
WILFRED OWEN (1893–1918)
‘In Silence’
DENISE LEVERTOV (1923–1997)
‘The Silent Linguist’
SARAH O. ADEDEJI (2001–)
Enter Silence
WONDER
‘Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802’
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770–1850)
‘On first looking into Chapman’s Homer’
JOHN KEATS (1795–1821)
‘Silence’
RALPH WALDO EMERSON (1803–1882)
‘When I heard the learn’d Astronomer’
WALT WHITMAN (1819–1892)
‘The words the happy say’
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886)
‘A Springtime’
WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS (1837–1920)
‘I could not sleep for thinking of the sky’
JOHN MASEFIELD (1878–1967)
‘Of Silence and the Air’
RUTH PITTER (1897–1992)
ANATOMI E S O F S I L ENCE
‘On Silence’
ALEXANDER POPE (1688–1744)
‘Fragment: Apostrophe to Silence’
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792–1822)
‘The Three Silences of Molinos’
HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW (1807–1882)
‘Sonnet: Silence’
EDGAR ALLEN POE (1809–1849)
‘Silence’
EMILY M. BARTON (C.1817–1909)
‘Silence is all we dread’
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886)
‘Golden Silences’
CHRISTINA ROSSETTI (1830–1894)
‘To Silence’
ALICE MEYNELL (1847–1922)
‘40 [silence]’
E.E. CUMMINGS (1894–1962)
‘Cartographies of Silence’
ADRIENNE RICH (1929–2012)
‘Silence: An Assay’
JANE HIRSHFIELD (1953–)
INTIMACY
‘As an unperfect actor on the stage’
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
‘Silence’
ABRAHAM COWLEY (1618–1667)
‘When We Two Parted’
LORD BYRON (1788–1824)
‘Silence. White Rose’
FRANCES SARGENT OSGOOD (1811–1850)
‘Silent Noon’
DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI (1828–1882)
‘Onycha’
MICHAEL FIELD (KATHERINE HARRIS BRADLEY, (1846–1914),
and EDITH EMMA COOPER, (1862–1913)
‘Silence’
PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR (1872–1906)
‘Silentium Amoris’
OSCAR WILDE (1854–1900)
‘The sweet-souled instrument in silence stands’
EVELYN DOUGLAS (1860–1914)
‘Absence’
CLAUDE MCKAY (1890–1948)
‘Then’
MURIEL RUKEYSER (1913–1980)
THE NATUR A L WORLD
From The Seasons
JAMES THOMSON (1700–1748)
‘There was a boy’ 23
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770–1850)
‘Noon’
JOHN CLARE (1793–1864)
‘Speak of the North! A lonely moor’
CHARLOTTE BRONTË (1816–1855)
‘How still, how happy! These are words’
EMILY BRONTË (1818–1848)
‘Sonnet’
MATTHEW ARNOLD (1822–1888)
‘Earth’s Silences’
AGNES ETHELWYN WETHERALD (1857–1940)
‘Storm Centre’
GENEVIEVE TAGGARD (1894–1948)
‘The Horses’
TED HUGHES (1930–1998)
‘The Twenty-Fifth-Floor Air’
RILEY FAULDS (1999–)
THE QUI E T L I F E
From The Owl and the Nightingale
ANON (12TH–13TH CENTURY)
‘A Quiet Neighbour’
JOHN HEYWOOD (C.1497–C.1580)
‘Silence’
THOMAS TRAHERNE (1636 /7–1674?)
From ‘The Petition for an Absolute Retreat’
ANNE FINCH, COUNTESS OF WINCHILSEA (1661–1720)
‘Solitude’
LAETITIA PILKINGTON (C.1709–1750)
From The Task
WILLIAM COWPER (1731–1800)
‘Not for that city’
CHARLOTTE MEW (1869–1928)
‘Flight’
RUPERT BROOKE (1887–1915)
‘Silence’
MARIANNE MOORE (1887–1972)
‘The Snow Party’
DEREK MAHON (1941–2020)
NIGHT
‘A Charme’
FRANCIS BEAUMONT (1584–1616)
‘Night, welcome art thou to my mind distressed’
LADY MARY WROTH (1587–1652)
‘Ye silent Nights, who sacred are to Rest’
MARY, LADY CHUDLEIGH (BAP. 1656– 1710)
‘Silent, silent night’
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757–1827)
‘Frost at Midnight’
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772–1834)
‘Silent Night’
JOSEPH MOHR (1792–1848),
trans. by JOHN FREEMAN YOUNG (1820–1885)
‘Silence’
E. NESBIT (1858–1924)
‘sleepers’
NANCY CAMPBELL (1978–)
NO WORDS
‘The Lover blames his Tongue that failed to utter his suit
in time of need’
GEORGE TURBERVILLE (1540–1597)
‘Loving in truth, and fain my love in verse to show’
SIR PHILIP SIDNEY (1554–1586)
‘O thou, my lovely boy, who in thy power’
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
‘Silence: A Sonnet’
HENRY KING (1592–1669)
‘To a Lady, who talked not much’
AARON HILL (1685–1750)
‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’
JOHN KEATS (1795–1821)
From In Memoriam A.H.H.
ALFRED LORD TENNYSON (1809–1892)
‘Grief’
ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING (1806–1861)
‘My best Acquaintances are those’
EMILY DICKINSON (1830–1886)
‘Speech and Silence’
CONSTANCE NADEN (1858–1889)
‘Dreams’
AMY LOWELL (1874–1925)
‘Silence’
C.H. SISSON (1914–2003)
LOS S & A B S ENCE
From Beowulf
ANON (8TH CENTURY)
The Wanderer
ANON (LATE 9TH/EARLY 10TH CENTURY)
‘When to the sessions of sweet silent thought’
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564–1616)
‘Denial’
GEORGE HERBERT (1593–1633)
‘On the Departure of the Nightingale’
CHARLOTTE SMITH (1709–1806)
‘Silence: Sonnet’
THOMAS HOOD (1799–1845)
‘Nondum’
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844–1889)
‘Silences’
THOMAS HARDY (1840–1928)
‘Maid Quiet’
W.B. YEATS (1865–1939)
‘Silence’
D.H. LAWRENCE (1885–1930)
‘Silence’ 23
T.S. ELIOT (1888–1965)
‘The Silence’
JANE GRIFFITHS (1970–)
S I L ENC I NGS & S E L F - S I L ENC I NGS
‘Sir Walter Raleigh to the Queen’
SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1554–1618)
‘Silence’
CHRISTOPHER SMART (1722–1771)
‘The Habit of Perfection’
GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1844–1889)
‘A Reason for Keeping Silent’
W.B. YEATS (1865–1939)
‘Silence’
NAOMI LONG MADGETT (1923–2020)
‘The One Minutes of Silence’
BENJAMIN ZEPHANIAH (1958–2023)
‘black noise’
VICTORIA ADUKWEI BULLEY (1991–)
‘Silences’
ROSE MCLARNEY (1982–)
HUS H
‘Lullay, lullow, lully, lullay’
ANON (15TH CENTURY)
‘Silence’
DORA GREENWELL (1821–82)
‘Noon-Silence (Australian Forest)’
WILLIAM SHARP (1855–1905)
‘Silence’
WALTER DE LA MARE (1873–1956)
‘The House was Quiet and the World was Calm’
WALLACE STEVENS (1879–1955)
‘Silence’
WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS (1883–1963)
‘Silence’
SARA TEASDALE (1884–1933)
‘Exposure’
WILFRED OWEN (1893–1918)
‘In Silence’
DENISE LEVERTOV (1923–1997)
‘The Silent Linguist’
SARAH O. ADEDEJI (2001–)