Have you ever gazed up at the night sky and felt a sense of wonder?
Stars have inspired poets for centuries, their twinkling lights sparking creativity and deep reflection.
Here are 10 spellbinding poems about stars that capture their beauty and mystery, evoking emotions that resonate with our own lives.
Let’s jump right in!
My favorite poem about stars
#1 “The Stars” by Madison Julius Cawein
These– the bright symbols of man’s hope and fame,
In which he reads his blessing or his curse–
Are syllables with which God speaks His name
In the vast utterance of the universe.
This poem wonderfully shows how stars symbolize our dreams and hopes, reminding us of both our blessings and challenges.
The line that describes stars as “syllables with which God speaks His name” suggests that the universe shares important truths through their shining light.
#2 From “Songs of the Dust” by Gladys Cromwell
There are twisted roots that grow
Even from a fragile white anemone.
But a star has no roots; to and fro
It floats in the light of the sky, like a water-lily,
And fades on the blue flood of day.
A star has no roots to hold it,
No living lonely entity to lose.
Floods of dim radiance fold it;
Night and day their silent aura transfuse;
But no change a star can bruise.
A star is adrift and free.
When day comes, it floats into space and complies;
Like a spirit quietly,
Like a spirit, amazed in a wider paradise
At mortal tears and sighs.
#3 “Stars” by Robert Frost
How countlessly they congregate
O’er our tumultuous snow,
Which flows in shapes as tall as trees
When wintry winds do blow!—
As if with keenness for our fate,
Out faltering few steps on
To white rest, and a place of rest
Invisible at dawn,—
And yet with neither love nor hate,
Those stars like some snow-white
Minerva’s snow-white marble eyes
Without the gift of sight.
#4 “A Flower’s Song” by Abram Joseph Ryan
Star! Star, why dost thou shine
Each night upon my brow?
Why dost thou make me dream the dreams
That I am dreaming now?
Star! Star, thy home is high —
I am of humble birth;
Thy feet walk shining o’er the sky,
Mine, only on the earth.
Star! Star, why make me dream?
My dreams are all untrue;
And why is sorrow dark for me
And heaven bright for you?
Star! Star, oh, hide thy ray,
And take it off my face;
Within my lowly home I stay,
Thou, in thy lofty place.
Star! Star, and still I dream,
Along thy light afar
I seem to soar until I seem
To be, like you, a star.
#5 “The Falling Star” by Rosa Newmarch
One star has left its purple track
And from the happy skies
Has pierced that ocean blind and black,
Whence never star nor ship came back,
Where hope extinguished lies.
O fall not thou, my star, whose light
Is all too dear for speech,
To hidden deeps, where stark and white
My wrecked hopes drift through gulfs too dark
For love’s own lamp to reach.
#6 “Stars” by Sara Teasdale
Alone in the night
On a dark hill
With pines around me
Spicy and still,
And a heaven full of stars
Over my head,
White and topaz
And misty red;
Myriads with beating
Hearts of fire
That aeons
Cannot vex or tire;
Up the dome of heaven
Like a great hill,
I watch them marching
Stately and still,
And I know that I
Am honored to be
Witness
Of so much majesty.
#7 “The Star” by Alice Corbin
I saw a star fall in the night,
And a grey moth touched my cheek;
Such majesty immortals have,
Such pity for the weak
#8 From “Songs from an Evil Wood” by Lord Dunsany
I
There is no wrath in the stars,
They do not rage in the sky;
I look from the evil wood
And find myself wondering why.
Why do they not scream out
And grapple star against star,
Seeking for blood in the wood
As all things round me are?
They do not glare like the sky
Or flash like the deeps of the wood;
But they shine softly on
In their sacred solitude.
To their high, happy haunts
Silence from us has flown,
She whom we loved of old
And know it now she is gone.
When will she come again,
Though for one second only?
She whom we loved is gone
And the whole world is lonely.
#9 “Star Thought” by Frances Shaw
I shall see a star tonight
From a distant mountain height;
From a city you will see
The same star that shines on me.
’Tis not of the firmament
On a solar journey bent;
Fixed it is through time and weather;—
’Tis a thought we hold together.
#10 “The Stars” by Park Benjamin
What marvel is it, that, in other lands
And ancient days, men worshipped the divine
And brilliant majesty of stars that shine
Pure in their lofty spheres, like angel-bands?
With a deep reverence, when evening came,
With her high train of shadows, have I bowed
Beneath the heaven, as each new-lighted flame
Glowed in the sapphire free from mist or cloud:
A holy presence seemed to fill the air,
Invisible spirits, such as live in dreams,
Came floating down on their celestial beams,
And from my heart there rose a silent prayer.
What marvel, then, that men of yore could see
In each bright star a glorious deity?