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Famous Auntie Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...seen what I hae seen,
 I’ the Braes o’ Killiecrankie, O.


I faught at land, I faught at sea,
 At hame I faught my Auntie, O;
But I met the devil an’ Dundee,
 On the Braes o’ Killiecrankie, O.
 An ye had been, &c.


The bauld Pitcur fell in a furr,
 An’ Clavers gat a clankie, O;
Or I had fed an Athole gled,
 On the Braes o’ Killiecrankie, O.
 An ye had been, &c....Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
...an auld man!
He’s peevish an’ jealous o’ a’ the young fellows,
 O dool on the day I met wi’ an auld man.


My auld auntie Katie upon me taks pity,
 I’ll do my endeavour to follow her plan;
I’ll cross him an’ wrack him, until I heartbreak him
 And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan,
I’ll cross him an’ wrack him, until I heartbreak him,
 And then his auld brass will buy me a new pan....Read more of this...

by Burns, Robert
...n’,
 An’ then comes ane an’ twenty, Tam.
 An’ O for, &c.


A glieb o’ lan’, a claut o’ gear,
 Was left me by my auntie, Tam;
At kith or kin I need na spier,
 An I saw ane an’ twenty, Tam.
 An’ O for, &c.


They’ll hae me wed a wealthy coof,
 Tho’ I mysel’ hae plenty, Tam;
But, hear’st thou laddie! there’s my loof,
 I’m thine at ane an’ twenty, Tam!
 An’ O for, &c....Read more of this...

by Thomas, Dylan
...heir watch
chains, groaned a little and slept. Mothers, aunts and sisters scuttled to and fro, bearing tureens. Auntie
Bessie, who had already been frightened, twice, by a clock-work mouse, whimpered at the sideboard and had some
elderberry wine. The dog was sick. Auntie Dosie had to have three aspirins, but Auntie Hannah, who liked port,
stood in the middle of the snowbound back yard, singing like a big-bosomed thrush. I would blow up balloons to
see how ...Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...icest one
'At ever lived wiz folks;
She lets you have ze mostes' fun,
An' laffs at all your jokes.
I got a ol' maid auntie, too,
The worst you ever saw;
Her eyes ist bore you through and through,—
She ain't a bit like ma.
She's ist as slim, as slim can be,
An' when you want to slide
Down on ze balusters, w'y she
Says 'at she's harrified.
She ain't as nice as Uncle Ben,
What says 'at little boys
Won't never grow to be big men
Unless they're fond of noise.
But m...Read more of this...



by Stevenson, Robert Louis
...Whenever Auntie moves around,
Her dresses make a curious sound,
They trail behind her up the floor,
And trundle after through the door....Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...w

And six children grew

In Rough Lea by the

Poplar’s side and when I

Shared their meal; it was

A feast of love and Auntie

Betty smiled as I sat

Beside her on the bench

“There’s always room for

One more inside” and I went along

For the ride.



17



Ride-a-cock horse to

Roundhay Park where




The tram terminus still

Stands, a bay with poles

Of steel too tall and

Strong to shift, between

The cobbles, tram lines

Lay buried, the upper

Deck is filled with th...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...s the smell of freedom

How the bounds may grow

Slowly slowly as I go.



“Rag-bone rag-bone

White donkey stone”

Auntie Nellie scoured

Her door step, polished

The brass knocker

Till I saw my face

Bunched like a fist

Complete with goggles

Grinning like a monkey

In a mile of mirrors.





19



Every door step had a stop

A half-stone iron weight

To hold it back and every 

Step was edged with donkey

Stone in yellow or white

From the ragman or the potman

W...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...by heart a whole

Hour every day, it took me a 

Whole half century to find

They were poems like mine.





12



Auntie Nellie was the best mother I never had

I spent my childhood at her house, not our’s,

It was always light and bright and warm

The tablecloth like a blanket of comfort

With a plate of cream biscuits just within

My reach, ‘Peg’s Paper’ and ‘The News of the World’

And Zane Grey from the Strand Library and the

Coal fire hissing and burning yellow an...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...

15



One day you came home early,

Sat fidgeting before the fire,

Smoking one Capstan Full Strength

After another; Auntie Nellie

Was working at the Maypole

So you told me, at twelve,





16



Your troubles, “They just went

Bust once gaffer died, his lad

Just couldn’t thoil it, so we got

Our cards and that was that”.





17



For months he moped, they told him

Copper-smiths were no more use,

“It’s plastics now” and he was

Far too old to learn another trade...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...d

Stumbled the drayhorses

Armoured in leather

And clashing brass

Strident as Belshazzar’s

Feast, rich as yeast

On Auntie Nellie’s

Baking board, barrels

Banked on barrels

From the cooper’s yard.





13



Margaret, are you listening?

Are your eyes still distant

And dreaming? Can you hear

My voice in Eden?

My poems are all for you

The one who never knew

Silent and most generous

Muse, eternal primavera

Under the streetlamps

Of Leeds Nine.





14



Ma...Read more of this...

by Milligan, Spike
...missing him (and other people)

It blew on man, it blew on beast
It blew on nun, it blew on priest
It blew the wig off Auntie Fanny-
But most of all, it blew on Granny!...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...e in bed

And you waited with your mother

To walk the streets of Seacroft.

“Your father murdered your mother”

As Auntie Margaret said,

Should a witness

Need indicting.



Your mother’s growing cancer went diagnosed, but unremarked

Until the final days

She was too busy auxiliary nursing

Or working in the Lakeside Caf?.

It was her wages that put bread and jam

And baked beans into your stomachs.



Her final hospitalisation

Was the arena for your fathe...Read more of this...

by Tebb, Barry
...slats,

Built-in kitchen units and made-to-measure gardens.

Every Saturday I went back to the streets,

Dinner at Auntie Nellie’s, Yorkies, mash and gravy,

Then the matinee at the Princess with Margaret,

The queen of my ten-year old heart.



Everybody was on the move, half the neighbours

To the new estates or death, newcomers with

Rough tongues from over the bridge slum clearance.

A drive-in Readymix cement works bruised the Hollows,

Ellerby Lane School c...Read more of this...

by Bishop, Elizabeth
...ugh they say he never raped),
And he wounded two policemen
 This last time he escaped.

They said, "He'll go to his auntie,
 Who raised him like a son.
She has a little drink shop
 On the hill of Babylon."

He did go straight to his auntie,
 And he drank a final beer.
He told her, "The soldiers are coming,
 And I've got to disappear."

"Ninety years they gave me.
 Who wants to live that long?
I'll settle for ninety hours,
 On the hill of Babylon.

...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...Was his saying.
Though he died in poverty
 Fit he thought it,
Grinning with philosophy:
 'Guess I bought it.'

Auntie took the way of sin,
 Seeking pleasure;
Lovers came, her heart to win,
 Bringing treasure.
Sickness smote,--with lips that bled
 Brave she fought it;
Smiling on her dying bed:
 'Dears, I bought it.'

My decades of life are run,
 Eight precisely;
Yet I've lost a lot of fun
 Living wisely.
Too much piety don't pay,
 Time has taught it;
Hadn'...Read more of this...

by Service, Robert William
...I burned my fingers on the stove
 And wept with bitterness;
But poor old Auntie Maggie strove
 To comfort my distress.
Said she: 'Think, lassie, how you'll burn
 Like any wicked besom
In fires of hell if you don't learn
 Your Shorter Catechism.'

A man's chief end is it began,
 (No mention of a woman's),
To glorify--I think it ran,
 The God who made poor humans.
And as I learned, I thought: if this--
 (My distaste gro...Read more of this...

by Stevenson, Robert Louis
..."Chief of our aunts"--not only I, 
But all your dozen of nurselings cry-- 
"What did the other children do? 
And what were childhood, wanting you?"...Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Auntie poems.


Book: Reflection on the Important Things