8 Famous Poems About Dawn

Explore these famous poems that beautifully capture the magic and meaning of dawn.

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By Catherine Pulsifer, last updated November 25, 2024


Day’s sweetest moments are at dawn.– Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Start your day by reading one of these famous poems about dawn. Short poems for your morning with verses to remind you to appreciate the beauty, the solitude, and the hope that each dawn brings. The night, the dark, and then we have the dawn - the beginning of a new day, when the sky wakes up! Let these poems remind you to appreciate the beginning of the day.

Table of Contents




    Celebrating the Beauty of Dawn Poems

    These poems reflect the breathtaking beauty of dawn, capturing its radiant light, vivid colors, and its profound impact on nature and our hearts.


  1. The Dawn
    Poet: Althea Randolph

    I'm up and dressed while yet the World
    Is fast asleep in bed;
    Ofttimes I wear a skirt of blue,
    And ofttimes ruby red;
    About my waist I tie a sash
    Of golden streamers gay.
    And o'er my shoulders throw a scarf
    Of fleecy clouds of gray;
    Upon my head I place a crown
    Of opal rays of light.
    And as the Moon and Stars behold,
    They quickly take their flight!
    I carry in my hands joy-beams,
    To scatter on my way;
    And when I waken birds and flowers,
    They echo back, "Tis day!"
    Behind me comes the amber Sun, -
    Each morn he gives me chase.
    But never has he caught me yet
    In swift Aurora's race!



  2. Dawn
    Poet: Ruth Lawrence

    Aurora bids the buds awake,
    And sends the winds abroad to play,
    To croon the rose a roundelay,
    To rouse the cricket in the brake;

    To ruffle up the placid lake,
    And trick the fields for holiday.
    Aurora bids the buds awake
    And sends the winds abroad to play.

    The willow waves its mantle gray,
    The almond boughs 'neath blossoms quake,
    They hail the coming of the day;
    With drowsy sweets the lilacs shake;
    Aurora bids the buds awake.



  3. Dawn
    Poet: Richard W. Gilder


    The night was dark, though sometimes a faint star
    A little while a little space made bright.
    The night was long, and, like an iron bar,
    Lay heavy on the land: till o'er the sea
    Slowly, within the east, there grew a light
    Which half was starlight, and half seemed to be
    The herald of a greater. The pale white
    Turned slowly to pale rose, and up the height
    Of heaven slowly climbed. The gray sea grew
    Rose-colored like the sky. A white gull flew
    Straight toward the utmost boundary of the east,
    Where slowly the rose gathered and increased.
    It was as on the opening of a door
    By one that in his hand a lamp doth hold,
    Whose flame is hidden by the garment's fold -
    The still air moves, the wide room is less dim.

    More bright the east became; the ocean turned
    Dark and more dark against the brightening sky -
    Sharper against the sky the long sea-line.
    The hollows of the breakers on the shore
    Were green like leaves whereon no sun doth shine,
    Though white the outer branches of the tree.
    From rose to red the level heaven burned;
    Then sudden, as if a sword fell from on high,
    A blade of gold flashed on the horizon's rim.



  4. Our eternal message of hope is that dawn will come. Martin Luther King, Jr.
    Christian Poems Of Hope



  5. The Brook
    Poet: Ruth Lawrence


    What does the brook say to you,
    At dawn when it flushes,
    And kisses the rushes.
    With murmurs and blushes?
    As it sings,
    Does it tell you of wonderful things,
    Till you think every wish must come true?

    For I do —
    What does the brook say to you?

    What does the brook say to you.
    When the sun hangs its head.
    When the west is all red,
    And the day is near sped?
    As it flows ;
    Does it promise surcease of all woes,
    Till you thrill with a hope that is new?

    For I do -
    What does the brook say to you?

    What does the brook say to you,
    When the moonlight in streams,
    Like a shower of dreams.
    On its dark surface gleams?
    As it sighs
    Does it bring faltering tears to your eyes.
    Till you long for forgiveness to sue?

    For I do -
    What does the brook say to you?

    Love, does the brook say to you.
    In the dark, in the light.
    In the day, in the night,
    In despair, in delight.
    As it rolls,
    That one are our hearts and our souls,
    For life, and eternity too?

    For I do.
    What does the brook say to you?


  6. Related: Poems About Beauty

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    Hope and Renewal at Dawn Poems

    Dawn represents a fresh start and renewed hope. These poems inspire readers to see light beyond the darkness and embrace the promise of a new day.


  7. The Dawn Comes
     Poet: Catherine Pulsifer

    The night can seem so black
    Any hope we have seems under attack
    It is hard to see, the sky is so dark
    The stars are its only mark.

    But then the dawn comes
    Light shines upon our problems
    The sun comes up, the light we see
    The darkness gone, we are set free.

    The sky is full of color to amaze
    The clouds look like they are ablaze
    We have before us a new day
    The dawn can bring hope, many say.

    Appreciate the beauty, stop and look
    The sky can change your outlook.
    The first sign of light, the darkness disappears
    The morning dawn can erase our fears.

    Be thankful for this dawn, this day
    Be the best you can be in every way
    Good morning to the dawn this day
    Life is good, not just okay!



  8. The darkest hour of the night-time Betokens the coming dawn Clara M. Brooks
    Poems About Night



  9. Dawning Another Day
    Poet: Carlyle

    So here hath been dawning another blue day!
    Oh, mayst thou not let it slip useless away!

    Out of Eternity this new day was born;
    Into Eternity at night will return.

    Behold it aforetime no eye ever did
    So soon it forever from all eyes is hid.

    Here hath been dawning another blue day;
    Think, wilt thou let it slip useless away?


  10. Related: Poems About Hope

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    The Romance of Dawn Poems

    With a romantic lens, these poems explore dawn as a symbol of love, passion, and the intimacy shared between nature and the soul.


  11. Dawn
    Poet: Ella Wheeler Wilcox


    Day’s sweetest moments are at dawn;
    Refreshed by his long sleep, the Light
    Kisses the languid lips of Night,
    Ere she can rise and hasten on.
    All glowing from his dreamless rest
    He holds her closely to his breast,
    Warm lip to lip and limb to limb,
    Until she dies for love of him.



  12. Not knowing when the Dawn will come, I open every Door, Or has it Feathers, like a Bird, Or Billows, like a Shore — Emily Dickinson
    Famous Poets


  13. Morning Among The Hills
    Poet: J. G. Percival


    A night had passed away among the hills,
    An now the first faint tokens of the dawn
    Showed in the east. The bright and dewy star
    Whose mission is to usher in the morn,
    Looked through the cool air, like a blessed thing
    In a far purer world; below, there lay,
    Wrapped round a woody mountain tranquilly,
    A misty cloud.

    Its edges caught the light
    That now came up from out the unseen depth
    Of the full fount of day, and they were laced
    With colors ever brightening. I had waked
    From a long sleep of many changing dreams,
    And now in the fresh forest air I stood,
    Nerved to another day of wandering.

    Below, there lay a far-extended sea,
    Rolling in feathery waves. The wind blew o'er it
    And tossed it round the high-ascending rocks,
    And swept it through the half-hidden forest-tops,
    Till, like an ocean waking into storm,
    It heaved and weltered. Gloriously the light
    Crested its billows, and those craggy islands
    Shone on it like to palaces of spar,
    Built on a sea of pearl.

    The sky bent round
    The awful dome of a most mighty temple,
    Built by Omnipotent hands, for nothing less
    Than infinite worship. There I stood in silence;
    I had no words to tell the mingled thoughts
    Of wonder and of joy which then came o'er me,
    Even with a whirlwind's rush.

    So beautiful,
    So bright, so glorious! Such a majesty
    In yon pure vault! So many dazzling tints
    In yonder waste of waves — so like the ocean
    With its unnumbered islands there encircled
    By foaming- surges.


  14. Related: Sunrise Poems

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More Famous Poems to Inspire



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We hope these poems encourage and inspire you to enjoy the dawn of each day!




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