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Famous Allegory Poems by Famous Poets

These are examples of famous Allegory poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous allegory poems. These examples illustrate what a famous allegory poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).

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by Hood, Thomas
...I had a gig-horse, and I called him Pleasure 
Because on Sundays for a little jaunt 
He was so fast and showy, quite a treasure; 
Although he sometimes kicked and shied aslant. 
I had a chaise, and christened it Enjoyment, 
With yellow body and the wheels of red, 
Because it was only used for one employment, 
Namely, to go wherever Pleasure led. 
I...Read more of this...



by Dunn, Stephen
...He climbed toward the blinding light
and when his eyes adjusted
he looked down and could see

his fellow prisoners captivated
by shadows; everything he had believed
was false. And he was suddenly

in the 20th century, in the sunlight
and violence of history, encumbered
by knowledge. Only a hero

would dare return with the truth.
So from the cav...Read more of this...

by Wignesan, T
...Remorseful, the noonday sun
Frizzles with the stealthy wind
Under the rubbery mountain green.
A calmness has come to rest
From having tossed in its sleep.
The forest has taken leave
Of the hunted horn and drum.
No more the tapper late of nap
Scurries to the haven of a nest.
No more the rattle whisper fades
To nothingness in a lones...Read more of this...

by Ashbery, John
...borygmic giant who even now
Is rolling over on us in his sleep. Farewell bocages,
Tanneries, water-meadows. The allegory comes unsnarled
Too soon; a shower of pecky acajou harpoons is 
About all there is to be noted between tornadoes. I have
Only my intermittent life in your thoughts to live
Which is like thinking in another language. Everything
Depends on whether somebody reminds you of me.
That this is a fabulation, and that those "other times"
Are in fa...Read more of this...

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...asting. See thou have not now 
Larded thy last, except thou turn and fly. 
There stands the third fool of their allegory.' 

For there beyond a bridge of treble bow, 
All in a rose-red from the west, and all 
Naked it seemed, and glowing in the broad 
Deep-dimpled current underneath, the knight, 
That named himself the Star of Evening, stood. 

And Gareth, 'Wherefore waits the madman there 
Naked in open dayshine?' 'Nay,' she cried, 
'Not naked, only wrapt in ...Read more of this...



by Jackson, Helen Hunt
..."O bees, sweet bees!" I said, "that nearest field 
Is shining white with fragrant immortelles. 
Fly swiftly there and drain those honey wells." 
Then, spicy pines the sunny hive to shield, 
I set, and patient for the autumn's yield 
Of sweet I waited. 
When the village bells 
Rang frosty clear, and from their satin cells 
The chestnuts leaped, ...Read more of this...

by Pinsky, Robert
...Dire one and desired one,
Savior, sentencer--

In an old allegory you would carry
A chained alphabet of tokens:

Ankh Badge Cross.
Dragon,
Engraved figure guarding a hallowed intaglio,
Jasper kinema of legendary Mind,
Naked omphalos pierced
By quills of rhyme or sense, torah-like: unborn
Vein of will, xenophile
Yearning out of Zero.

Untrusting I court you. Wavering
I seek your face, I read
That Crusoe...Read more of this...

by Petrarch, Francesco
...SONNET L. Al cader d' una pianta che si svelse. UNDER THE ALLEGORY OF A LAUREL HE AGAIN DEPLORES HER DEATH.  As a fair plant, uprooted by oft blowsOf trenchant spade, or which the blast upheaves,Scatters on earth its green and lofty leaves,And its bare root...Read more of this...

by Paterson, Andrew Barton
...'Twas on the famous Empire run, 
Whose sun does never set, 
Whose grass and water, so they say, 
Have never failed them yet -- 
They carry many million sheep, 
Through seasons dry and wet. 
They call the homestead Albion House, 
And then, along with that, 
There's Welshman's Gully, Scotchman's Hill, 
And Paddymelon Flat: 
And all these places are renow...Read more of this...

by Shelley, Percy Bysshe
...FIRST SPIRIT
O thou, who plum'd with strong desire 
Wouldst float above the earth, beware!
A Shadow tracks thy flight of fire--
Night is coming!
Bright are the regions of the air,
And among the winds and beams
It were delight to wander there--
Night is coming!SECOND SPIRIT
The deathless stars are bright above;
If I would cross the shade of night,
Within my...Read more of this...

by Byron, George (Lord)
...would take up hours. 

XXXIV 

And this is not a theologic tract, 
To prove with Hebrew and with Arabic, 
If Job be allegory or a fact, 
But a true narrative; and thus I pick 
From out the whole but such and such an act 
As sets aside the slightest thought of trick. 
'Tis every tittle true, beyond suspicion, 
And accurate as any other vision. 

XXXV 

The spirits were in neutral space, before 
The gates of heaven; like eastern thresholds is 
The place where Death'...Read more of this...

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