Famous Amateurs Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Cloud in Trousers

...
than a beggar has kopeks!¡± 
But remember! 
When they teased Vesuvius, 
Pompeii perished! 

Hey! 
Gentlemen! 
Amateurs 
of sacrilege, 
crime, 
and carnage, 
have you seen 
the terror of terrors ¨C 
my face 
when 
I 
am absolutely calm? 

I feel 
my ¡°I¡± 
is much too small for me. 
Stubbornly a body pushes out of me. 

Hello! 
Who¡¯s speaking? 
Mamma? 
Mamma! 
Your son is gloriously ill! 
Mamma! 
His heart is on fire. 
Tell his sisters, Lyuda ...Read more of this...
by Mayakovsky, Vladimir


Amateurs of Heaven

...ver-setting ones set in the North
To circle the Pole in idiot majesty,
And wonder what was given them to wonder.

Being amateurs, they knew some of the names
By rote, and could attach the names to stars
And draw the lines invisible between 
That humbled all the heavenly things to farm
And forest things and even kitchen things,
A bear, a wagon, a long handled ladle;

Could wonder at the shadow of the world
That brought those lights to light, could wonder too
At the ancestral e...Read more of this...
by Nemerov, Howard

Lune de Miel

...
On relève le drap pour mieux égratigner.
Moins d’une lieue d’ici est Saint Apollinaire
En Classe, basilique connue des amateurs
De chapitaux d’acanthe que tournoie le vent.

Ils vont prendre le train de huit heures
Prolonger leurs misères de Padoue à Milan
Où se trouvent la Cène, et un restaurant pas cher.
Lui pense aux pourboires, et rédige son bilan.
Ils auront vu la Suisse et traversé la France.
Et Saint Apollinaire, raide et ascétique,
Vieille usine désaffectée de Dieu, ...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)

Saltbush Bills Second Flight

...s my experience every day, and I make no doubt it's yours, 
That a third-class pro is an over-match for the best of the amateurs --" 
"Oh, take your swag to the travellers' hut," said Smith, "for you waste your breath; 
You've a first-class chance, if you lose the fight, of talking your man to death. 
I'll tell the cook you're to have your grub, and see that you eat your fill, 
And come to the scratch all fit and well to leather this Saltbush Bill." 

'Twas Saltbush Bill, and...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

The Millers Tale

...the
mysteries or religious plays; Herod was one of these parts,
which may have been an object of competition among the
amateurs of the period.

23 ."The nighe sly maketh oft time the far lief to be loth": a
proverb; the cunning one near at hand oft makes the loving one
afar off to be odious.

24. Kyked: Looked; "keek" is still used in some parts in the
sense of "peep."

25. Saint Frideswide was the patroness of a considerable priory
at Oxford, and held there in high repute.
...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey


The Premier and the Socialist

...Bank 
Such funds accumulate. 
"If these were only cleared away," 
They said, "it would be great." 
"If three financial amateurs 
Controlled them for a year, 
Do you suppose," the Premier said, 
"That they would get them clear?" 
"I think so," said the Socialist; 
"They would -- or very near!" 

"If we should try to raise some cash 
On assets of our own, 
Do you suppose," the Premier said, 
"That we could float a loan?" 
"I doubt it," said the Socialist, 
And groaned a dolefu...Read more of this...
by Paterson, Andrew Barton

Two Gardens in Linndale

...
Good harvesting for you and me, 
Who cares if we sing loud or low?” 

They planted once, and twice, and thrice, 
Like amateurs in paradise; 
And every spring, fond, foiled, elate, 
Said Oakes, “We are in tune with Fate: 
One season longer will suffice.”

Year after year ’twas all the same: 
With none to envy, none to blame, 
They lived along in innocence, 
Nor ever once forgot the fence, 
Till on a day the Stranger came.

He came to greet them where they were, 
And he too w...Read more of this...
by Robinson, Edwin Arlington

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