The breaking waves dashed high

On a stern and rock-bound coast,

And the woods against a stormy sky

Their giant branches tossed.

John Keble (1792-1866): Landing of the Pilgrim Fathers.

Have hung

My dank and dropping weeds

To the stern god of sea.

John Milton (1608-1674): Translation of Horace. Book i. Ode 5.

Stern Ruin's ploughshare drives elate

Full on thy bloom.

Robert Burns (1759-1796): To a Mountain Daisy.