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Famous All Work No Play Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous All Work No Play 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 work no play poems. These examples illustrate what a famous all work no play poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry
...It pleased the Lord of Angels (praise His name!)
To hear, one day, report from those who came
With pitying sorrow, or exultant joy,
To tell of earthly tasks in His employ:
For some were sorry when they saw how slow
The stream of heavenly love on earth must flow;
And some were glad because their eyes had seen,
Along its banks, fresh flowers and living green...Read more of this...
by Dyke, Henry Van



...I loved to toy with tuneful rhyme,
My fancies into verse to weave;
For as I walked my words would chime
So bell-like I could scarce believe;
My rhymes rippled like a brook,
My stanzas bloomed like blossoms gay:
And that is why I dream this book
 A verseman's holiday.

The palm-blades brindle in the blaze
Of sunsets splendouring the sea;
The Gloaming is a l...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William
...When you and I were young, the days
Were filled with scent of pink and rose,
And full of joy from dawn till close,
From morning's mist till evening's haze.
And when the robin sung his song
The verdant woodland ways along,
We whistled louder than he sung.
And school was joy, and work was sport
For which the hours were all too short,
When you and I w...Read more of this...
by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...ROSALIND, HELEN, and her Child.

SCENE. The Shore of the Lake of Como.

HELEN
Come hither, my sweet Rosalind.
'T is long since thou and I have met;
And yet methinks it were unkind
Those moments to forget.
Come, sit by me. I see thee stand
By this lone lake, in this far land,
Thy loose hair in the light wind flying,
Thy sweet voice to each tone of even
Unit...Read more of this...
by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...I'm a helpless cripple child, 
Gentle Christians, pity me; 
Once, in rosy health I smiled, 
Blithe and gay as you can be, 
And upon the village green
First in every sport was seen. 

Now, alas! I'm weak and low,
Cannot either work or play; 
Tottering on my crutches, slow, 
Thus I drag my weary way: 
Now no longer dance and sing, 
Gaily, in the merry ring. ...Read more of this...
by Taylor, Ann



...Your children grow from you apart,
 Afar and still afar;
And yet it should rejoice your heart
 To see how glad they are;
In school and sport, in work and play,
 And last, in wedded bliss
How others claim with joy to-day
 The lips you used to kiss.

Your children distant will become,
 And wide the gulf will grow;
The lips of loving will be dumb,
 The trust ...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William
...A pencil, sir; a penny -- won't you buy?
I'm cold and wet and tired, a sorry plight;
Don't turn your back, sir; take one just to try;
I haven't made a single sale to-night.
Oh, thank you, sir; but take the pencil too;
I'm not a beggar, I'm a business man.
Pencils I deal in, red and black and blue;
It's hard, but still I do the best I can.
Most days I make ...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William
...(For Edward J. Wheeler)

Within the Jersey City shed
The engine coughs and shakes its head,
The smoke, a plume of red and white,
Waves madly in the face of night.
And now the grave incurious stars
Gleam on the groaning hurrying cars.
Against the kind and awful reign
Of darkness, this our angry train,
A noisy little rebel, pouts
Its brief defiance, flames a...Read more of this...
by Kilmer, Joyce
...Out of the mud two strangers came
And caught me splitting wood in the yard,
And one of them put me off my aim
By hailing cheerily "Hit them hard!"
I knew pretty well why he had dropped behind
And let the other go on a way.
I knew pretty well what he had in mind:
He wanted to take my job for pay.

Good blocks of oak it was I split,
As large around as the ch...Read more of this...
by Frost, Robert
...The swallow of summer, she toils all the summer,
A blue-dark knot of glittering voltage,
A whiplash swimmer, a fish of the air.
 But the serpent of cars that crawls through the dust
 In shimmering exhaust
 Searching to slake
 Its fever in ocean
 Will play and be idle or else it will bust. 

The swallow of summer, the barbed harpoon,
She flings from the fur...Read more of this...
by Hughes, Ted
...I'm part of people I have known
 And they are part of me;
The seeds of thought that I have sown
 In other minds I see.
There's something of me in the throne
 And in the gallows tree.

There's something of me in each one
 With whom I work and play,
For islanded there can be none
 In this dynamic day;
And meshed with me perchance may be
 A leper in Cathay.

...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

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Book: Radiant Verses: A Journey Through Inspiring Poetry