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Famous Associations Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Cavafy, Constantine P
...and talk.

Do not debase it by taking it,
dragging it often and exposing it
to the daily folly
of relationships and associations,
until it becomes burdensome as an alien life....Read more of this...



by Stevenson, Robert Louis
...Dear Uncle Jim. this garden ground 
That now you smoke your pipe around, 
has seen immortal actions done 
And valiant battles lost and won. 

Here we had best on tip-toe tread, 
While I for safety march ahead, 
For this is that enchanted ground 
Where all who loiter slumber sound. 

Here is the sea, here is the sand, 
Here is the simple Shepher...Read more of this...

by Tate, James
...The directions to the lunatic asylum were confusing,
more likely they were the random associations
and confused ramblings of a lunatic.
We arrived three hours late for lunch
and the lunatics were stacked up on their shelves,
quite neatly, I might add, giving credit where credit is due.
The orderlies were clearly very orderly, and they
should receive all the credit that is their due.
When I asked one of the doctors for a corkscrew
...Read more of this...

by Taylor, Edward
...The directions to the lunatic asylum were confusing,
more likely they were the random associations
and confused ramblings of a lunatic.
We arrived three hours late for lunch
and the lunatics were stacked up on their shelves,
quite neatly, I might add, giving credit where credit is due.
The orderlies were clearly very orderly, and they
should receive all the credit that is their due.
When I asked one of the doctors for a corkscrew
...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...out of himself, with plasticity and love; 
He places his own city, times, reminiscences, parents, brothers and sisters, associations,
 employment, politics, so that the rest never shame them afterward, nor assume to command
 them.

He is the answerer: 
What can be answer’d he answers—and what cannot be answer’d, he shows how
 it
 cannot
 be answer’d. 

3
A man is a summons and challenge; 
(It is vain to skulk—Do you hear that mocking and laughter? Do you hear the iron...Read more of this...



by Ashbery, John
...loud the focus
Of the crystal ball. Its scene drifts away
Like vapor scattered on the wind. The fertile
Thought-associations that until now came
So easily, appear no more, or rarely. Their
Colorings are less intense, washed out
By autumn rains and winds, spoiled, muddied,
Given back to you because they are worthless.
Yet we are such creatures of habit that their
Implications are still around en permanence, confusing
Issues. To be serious only about sex
Is ...Read more of this...

by Whitman, Walt
...rong and feudalistic, 
could none of them restrain her? 
Nor shades of Virgil and Dante—nor myriad memories, poems, old associations, magnetize and
 hold on to her? 
But that she ’s left them all—and here? 

Yes, if you will allow me to say so,
I, my friends, if you do not, can plainly see Her, 
The same Undying Soul of Earth’s, activity’s, beauty’s, heroism’s Expression, 
Out from her evolutions hither come—submerged the strata of her former themes, 
Hidden and cover’d by to...Read more of this...

by Moore, Thomas
...Ere he had been forc'd to sell at a loss.
They quote thim the Stock of various nations,
But, spite of his classical associations,
Lord how he loathes the Greek quotations!


"Who'll buy my Scrip! Who'll buy my Scrip?"
Is now the theme of the patriot's lip,
And he runs to tell how hard his lot is
To Messrs. Orlando and Luriottis,
And says, "Oh Greece, for Liberty's sake,
Do buy my Scrip and I vow to break
Those dark, unholy bonds of thine --
If you'll only consent to b...Read more of this...

by Plath, Sylvia
...a thirty-year-old cargo boat
Stubbornly hanging on to my name and address.
They have swabbed me clear of my loving associations.
Scared and bare on the green plastic-pillowed trolley
I watched my teaset, my bureaus of linen, my books
Sink out of sight, and the water went over my head.
I am a nun now, I have never been so pure.

I didn't want any flowers, I only wanted
To lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty.
How free it is, you have no idea ho...Read more of this...

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Book: Shattered Sighs