Famous All Or Nothing Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous All Or Nothing poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous all or nothing poems. These examples illustrate what a famous all or nothing poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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In the face of the decrees of Providence, nothing avails

by Omar Khayyam
In the face of the decrees of Providence, nothing avails
but resignation. Among men nothing avails but seeming
and hypocrisy. I have employed every ruse, the strongest
that the human mind can invent, but destiny has always
overturned my projects....Read more of this...

Except Thy absence there is nothing of worth that can

by Omar Khayyam
Except Thy absence there is nothing of worth that can
bruise to the quick; he cannot be acute who is not taken
with Thy subtle charms, and, although there exist in
Thy mind no care for any one, there is none who may
not be preoccupied with Thee.
288...Read more of this...

Nothing is enough!

by Laurence Binyon
 No, though our all be spent-- 
Heart's extremest love, 
Spirit's whole intent, 
All that nerve can feel, 
All that brain invent,-- 
Still beyond appeal 
Will Divine Desire 
Yet more excellent 
Precious cost require 
Of this mortal stuff,-- 
Never be content 
Till ourselves be fire. 
Nothing is enough!...Read more of this...

Nothing

by Ehsan Sehgal
"I have nothing to give you except my true and real love from the depths of my heart."
Ehsan Sehgal...Read more of this...

My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun (Sonnet 130)

by William Shakespeare
 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath...Read more of this...

Nothing Stays Put

by Amy Clampitt
 In memory of Father Flye, 1884-1985


The strange and wonderful are too much with us.
The protea of the antipodes—a great,
globed, blazing honeybee of a bloom—
for sale in the supermarket! We are in
our decadence, we are not entitled.
What have we done to deserve
all the produce of the tropics—
this fiery trove, the largesse of it
heaped up like cannonballs, these pineapples, bossed
and crested,...Read more of this...

Nothing Gold Can Stay

by Robert Frost
 Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay....Read more of this...

Sonnet 59: If there be nothing new but that which is

by William Shakespeare
 If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which, labouring for invention bear amis
The second burthen of a former child!
O, that record could with a backward look,
Even of five hundred courses of the sun,
Show me your image in some antique book,
Since mind at first in character was done.
That I might see what...Read more of this...

The Gardener XIII: I Asked Nothing

by Rabindranath Tagore
 I asked nothing, only stood at the 
edge of the wood behind the tree.
Languor was still upon the eyes
of the dawn, and the dew in the air.
The lazy smell of the damp grass
hung in the thin mist above the earth.
Under the banyan tree you were
milking the cow with your hands,
tender and fresh as butter.
And I was standing still.
I did...Read more of this...

Expect Nothing

by Alice Walker
Expect nothing. Live frugally
On surprise.
become a stranger
To need of pity
Or, if compassion be freely
Given out
Take only enough
Stop short of urge to plead
Then purge away the need.


Wish for nothing larger
Than your own small heart
Or greater than a star;
Tame wild disappointment
With caress unmoved and cold
Make of it a parka
For your soul.


Discover the reason why
So tiny human midget
Exists at all
So scared unwise
But expect...Read more of this...

Nothing To Save

by D. H. Lawrence
 There is nothing to save, now all is lost,
but a tiny core of stillness in the heart
like the eye of a violet....Read more of this...

I ask of thee love nothing but relief

by Mary Elizabeth Coleridge
 I ask of thee, love, nothing but relief. 
Thou canst not bring the old days back again; 
For I was happy then, 
Not knowing heavenly joy, not knowing grief....Read more of this...

Sonnet V: Nothing But No

by Michael Drayton
 Nothing but "No," and "Aye," and "Aye," and "No"? 
How falls it out so strangely you reply? 
I tell ye, Fair, I'll not be answer'd so, 
With this affirming "No," denying "Aye." 
I say, "I love," you slightly answer "Aye"; 
I say, "You love," you pule me out a "No"; 
I say, "I die," you echo me an "Aye";...Read more of this...

Nothing Free-cost

by Robert Herrick
 Nothing comes free-cost here; Jove will not let
His gifts go from him, if not bought with sweat....Read more of this...

Sonnet 130: My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun

by William Shakespeare
 My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damasked, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks,
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath...Read more of this...

Have You Nothing To Say For Yourself?

by Victor Hugo
 ("Si vous n'avez rien à me dire.") 
 
 {Bk. II. iv., May, 18—.} 


 Speak, if you love me, gentle maiden! 
 Or haunt no more my lone retreat. 
 If not for me thy heart be laden, 
 Why trouble mine with smiles so sweet? 
 
 Ah! tell me why so mute, fair maiden, 
 Whene'er...Read more of this...

Sonnet VIII: Theres Nothing Grieves Me

by Michael Drayton
 There's nothing grieves me, but that Age should haste, 
That in my days I may not see thee old, 
That where those two clear sparkling eyes are plac'd 
Only two loop-holes then I might behold; 
That lovely, arched, ivory, polish'd brow 
Defac'd with wrinkles that I might but see; 
Thy dainty hair, so curl'd and crisped now, 
Like grizzled...Read more of this...

Black Stone On Top Of Nothing

by Philip Levine
 Still sober, César Vallejo comes home and finds a black ribbon 
around the apartment building covering the front door. 
He puts down his cane, removes his greasy fedora, and begins 
to untangle the mess. His neighbors line up behind him 
wondering what's going on. A middle-aged woman carrying 
a loaf of fresh bread asks him to step aside so...Read more of this...

Nothing Stays

by Mark Van Doren
 Nothing stays
not even change,
That can grow tired 
of it's own name;
The very thought
too much for it.

Somewhere in air
a stillness is, 
So far, so thin-
But let it alone.
Whoever we are
it is not for us...Read more of this...

Nothing Can Come Between Us

by Tupac Shakur
Lets not talk of money
let us 4 get the world
4 a moment lets just reveal
in our eternal comadery
in my heart i know
there will never be a day
that i don't remember
the times we shared
u were a friend
when i was at my lowest
and being a friend to me
was not easy or fashionable
regardless of how popular
I became u remain
my unconditional friend
unconditional in it's...Read more of this...

Sonnet CXXX: My mistress eyes are nothing like the sun

by William Shakespeare
  My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red:
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the...Read more of this...

Love Dislikes Nothing

by Robert Herrick
 Whatsoever thing I see,
Rich or poor although it be,
--'Tis a mistress unto me.

Be my girl or fair or brown,
Does she smile, or does she frown;
Still I write a sweet-heart down.

Be she rough, or smooth of skin;
When I touch, I then begin
For to let affection in.

Be she bald, or does she wear
Locks incurl'd of other hair;
I shall find enchantment there.

Be...Read more of this...

I was a Phoebe -- nothing more --

by Emily Dickinson
 I was a Phoebe -- nothing more --
A Phoebe -- nothing less --
The little note that others dropt
I fitted into place --

I dwelt too low that any seek --
Too shy, that any blame --
A Phoebe makes a little print
Upon the Floors of Fame --...Read more of this...

Upon Nothing

by John Wilmot
 Nothing, thou elder brother even to shade,
That hadst a being ere the world was made,
And (well fixed) art alone of ending not afraid.
Ere time and place were, time and place were not,
When primitive Nothing Something straight begot,
Then all proceeded from the great united--What?
Something, the general attribute of all,
Severed from thee, its sole original,
Into thy boundless self must undistinguished fall.
Yet...Read more of this...

Nothing To Be Said

by Philip Larkin
 For nations vague as weed,
For nomads among stones,
Small-statured cross-faced tribes
And cobble-close families
In mill-towns on dark mornings
Life is slow dying.

So are their separate ways
Of building, benediction,
Measuring love and money
Ways of slow dying.
The day spent hunting pig 
Or holding a garden-party,

Hours giving evidence
Or birth, advance
On death equally slowly.
And saying so to some
Means nothing; others it leaves
Nothing to be said....Read more of this...

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