Editor's note
Ranking is generated by Storgy's classification model, which scores each poem's thematic depth on this subject relative to the rest of the corpus. The list is re-indexed weekly as new poems enter the public-domain corpus.
Best poems about — Storgy
exile.
Twenty-five poems, ranked.
25 of the finest public-domain poems about exile, ranked by thematic depth. Scored by Storgy's classification model against the rest of the corpus, and re-indexed weekly as new works enter the canon.
The leading three
01
Acadia and the Acadians
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“This is a prose introduction by Longfellow, not a poem, but rather the historical preface he created to set the stage for his epic poem *Evangeline: A Tale of A…”
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02
A Jacobite's Exile
Algernon Charles Swinburne
“A Jacobite soldier, exiled in France after the devastating loss at Culloden in 1746, longs for his home in Northumberland. He gazes at the French countryside, w…”
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03
A Tale of Acadie
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“This is the opening of Longfellow's epic poem *Evangeline*, which narrates the tale of Acadian settlers who were forcibly taken from their homes in Nova Scotia…”
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The complete index
- 04
At Tomis, in Bessarabia, Near the Mouths of the Danube
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This poem is Longfellow's English translation of two elegies written by the Roman poet Ovid, who was exiled by Emperor Augustus to Tomis—a distant, icy outpost on the Black Sea. In…
- 05
The Emigrée
Carol Rumens · 1993
- 06
1492
Emma Lazarus · 1883
In 1492, Spain expelled its Jewish population through the Alhambra Decree, forcing hundreds of thousands to flee without a destination. Emma Lazarus reflects on that year as a coin…
- 07
Drummer Hodge
Thomas Hardy · 1899
A young English drummer boy named "Hodge," a common name for a country worker, dies during the Boer War and is laid to rest in the South African veld, far from his homeland. Hardy…
- 08
A Jacobite's Farewell
Algernon Charles Swinburne
A Jacobite soldier, locked away after the failed 1715 uprising, bids farewell to the woman he loves on the eve of his execution. He urges her not to mourn over lost territories or…
- 09
Frithiof’s Farewell
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow's "Frithiof's Farewell" translates a poignant moment from the Swedish epic *Frithiofs saga*, where the hero Frithiof bids farewell to his cherished homeland and the woma…
- 10
Fugitives
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
A small group of Jewish survivors approaches the warrior Judas Maccabaeus, introducing themselves as outcasts and fugitives who have escaped a desecrated Jerusalem to avoid death.…
- 11
Hampden, Pym, Cromwell, His Daughter, and Young Sir Harry Vane
Percy Bysshe Shelley
This is a fragment from Shelley's unfinished verse drama about figures from the English Civil War—Hampden, Pym, Cromwell, and others—who choose to sail to America rather than endur…
- 12
Meliboeus
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This brief poem is Longfellow's loose translation of the opening lines from Virgil's *Eclogue I*, where the shepherd Meliboeus speaks to his friend Tityrus. Meliboeus faces the hea…
- 13
Part the Second
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This is the second part of Longfellow's epic poem *Evangeline*, which tells the story of an Acadian heroine wandering across North America in search of her lost love, Gabriel, afte…
- 14
The Jewish Cemetery at Newport
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow visits the old Jewish cemetery in Newport, Rhode Island, using it as a starting point to reflect on the entire history of Jewish suffering and resilience in Europe. He t…
- 15
The Poem
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow's *Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie* (1847) tells the story of a young Acadian woman named Evangeline Bellefontaine who searches for her fiancé, Gabriel. They were separated…
- 16
The New Colossus
Emma Lazarus · 1883
A statue stands at the entrance to America, speaking not as a conqueror but as a mother welcoming the world's most desperate people. Emma Lazarus gives the Statue of Liberty a voic…
- 17
The Wind Sleepers
H. D. · 1916
A restless group of spirits, swept along by the wind, calls on the living to construct an altar and offer songs to help them find peace. Forced from their natural home by the sea a…
- 18
Sea Heroes
H. D. · 1924
A poet names ancient sea-heroes, mainly from Homer's Phaeacians, discovering that simply voicing these names can soothe feelings of grief and exile. The poem transitions from the o…
- 19
Aged 22
Amy Lowell
*Aged 22* is a set of three sonnets by Amy Lowell, each depicting a young man marked by loss, displacement, or unrealized potential. The first sonnet laments an unnamed young man w…
- 20
Another Judge
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This brief poem features one speaker who refuses to accept a decision, pointing out that exiled men—those who faced death if they returned—are now living back home without issue. T…
- 21
Bermudas
Andrew Marvell
A small boat filled with Puritan exiles rows across the ocean, singing a hymn of gratitude to God for leading them to the Bermudas—a paradise-like island, far removed from the reli…
- 22
By Francisco De Aldana
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
This poem envisions heaven as the soul's true home — a realm filled with pure light and truth, where the spirit is liberated from its fragile, suffering body. The speaker describes…
- 23
City without a Name
Czesław Miłosz
A reflective, meditative poem by Polish-American Nobel laureate Czesław Miłosz, "City without a Name" explores memories of Wilno (now Vilnius), the city of his youth, which has bee…
- 24
Dante
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Longfellow's sonnet envisions the medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri traversing the dark spiritual realm of his own *Divine Comedy*, blending fearsome strength with profound hum…
- 25
From the Original Draft of the Poem to William Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelley writes to his young son William about the experience of being exiles, searching for places where freedom and greatness still thrive in the world. He expresses that even in…
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