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Famous Basest Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Jonson, Ben
...st up jealousies and fears  
When all the causes were away. 

Then in a soil hast planted me 
Where breathe the basest of thy fools; 
Where envious arts profess¨¨d be 15 
And pride and ignorance the schools; 

Where nothing is examined weigh'd  
But as 'tis rumour'd so believed; 
Where every freedom is betray'd  
And every goodness tax'd or grieved. 20 

But what we're born for we must bear: 
Our frail condition it is such 
That what to all may happen h...Read More



by Wilmot, John
...ous and just,
- And to whose morals you would sooner trust:

Be judge yourself, I'll bring it to the test,
Which is the basest creature, man or beast
Birds feed on birds, beasts on each other prey,
But savage man alone does man betray:
Pressed by necessity; they kill for food,
Man undoes man, to do himself no good.
With teeth and claws, by nature armed, they hunt
Nature's allowance, to supply their want.
But man, with smiles, embraces. friendships. Praise,
Inh...Read More

by Nicolson, Adela Florence Cory
...me yourself again; before you go
   Down through the darkness of the Great, Blind Portal,
     All of life's best and basest you must know.

   Erstwhile Beloved, you were so young and fragile
     I held you gently, as one holds a flower:
   But now, God knows, what use to still be tender
     To one whose life is done within an hour?

   I hurt?  What then?  Death will not hurt you, dearest,
     As you hurt me, for just a single night,
   You call me cruel, who ...Read More

by Sidney, Sir Philip
...to write, as for to lie and grone.
O Stella deare, how much thy powre hath wrought,
That hast my mind (now of the basest) brought
My still-kept course, while others sleepe, to mone!
Alas, if from the height of Vertues throne
Thou canst vouchsafe the influence of a thought
Vpon a wretch that long thy grace hath sought,
Weigh then how I by thee am ouerthrowne,
And then thinke thus: although thy beautie be
Made manifest by such a victorie,
Yet noble conquerours do ...Read More

by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...as crowds that in an hour
Of civic tumult jam the doors, and bear
The keepers down, and throng, their rags and the
The basest, far into that council-hall
Where sit the best and stateliest of the land?

³Can I not fling this horror off me again, 
Seeing with how great ease Nature can smile 
Balmier and nobler from her bath of storm, 
At random ravage? and how easily 
The mountain there has cast his cloudy slough, 
Now towering o'er him in serenest air, 
A mountain o'er a moun...Read More



by Milton, John
...l not ambition and revenge 
Descend to? Who aspires, must down as low 
As high he soared; obnoxious, first or last, 
To basest things. Revenge, at first though sweet, 
Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils: 
Let it; I reck not, so it light well aimed, 
Since higher I fall short, on him who next 
Provokes my envy, this new favourite 
Of Heaven, this man of clay, son of despite, 
Whom, us the more to spite, his Maker raised 
From dust: Spite then with spite is best repaid...Read More

by Levy, Amy
...uty-loving stare,
Who ne'er long the coy coquetting of the courtly dames withstood,
Tho' a woman be the lowest, and the basest, and least fair,
In your manliness forget not to respect her womanhood,
And thou, gipsy, that hast often the pursuer fled before,
That hast felt ere this the shadow of dark death upon thy brow,
That hast hid among the mountains, that hast roamed the forest o'er,
Bred to hiding, watching, fleeing, may thy speed avail thee now!

* * * * * * *

Still she...Read More

by Wilmot, John
...just, 
And to whose Moralls, you wou'd sooner trust. 
Be judge your self, I'le bring it to the test, 
Which is the basest Creature Man, or Beast? 
Birds, feed on Birds, Beasts, on each other prey, 
But Savage Man alone, does Man, betray: 
Prest by necessity, they Kill for Food, 
Man, undoes Man, to do himself no good. 
With Teeth, and Claws, by Nature arm'd they hunt, 
Natures allowance, to supply their want. 
But Man, with smiles, embraces, Friendships, praise, ...Read More

by Shakespeare, William
...sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace.
Even so my sun one early morn did shine
With all-triumphant splendour on my brow.
But out, alack! He was but one hour mine;
The region cloud hath masked him from me now.
Yet him for this my love no wh...Read More

by Shakespeare, William
...flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself, it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity.
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds....Read More

by Shakespeare, William
...flower is to the summer sweet,
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds....Read More

by Shakespeare, William
...s flower is to the summer sweet
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds....Read More

by Shakespeare, William
...are loved of more and less;
Thou makest faults graces that to thee resort.
As on the finger of a throned queen
The basest jewel will be well esteem'd,
So are those errors that in thee are seen
To truths translated and for true things deem'd.
How many lambs might the stem wolf betray,
If like a lamb he could his looks translate!
How many gazers mightst thou lead away,
If thou wouldst use the strength of all thy state!
But do not so; I love thee in such sort
As, thou b...Read More

by Shakespeare, William
...sovereign eye,
Kissing with golden face the meadows green,
Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy;
Anon permit the basest clouds to ride
With ugly rack on his celestial face,
And from the forlorn world his visage hide,
Stealing unseen to west with this disgrace:
Even so my sun one early morn did shine
With all triumphant splendor on my brow;
But out, alack! he was but one hour mine;
The region cloud hath mask'd him from me now.
Yet him for this my love no whit disdai...Read More

by Shakespeare, William
...s flower is to the summer sweet
Though to itself it only live and die,
But if that flower with base infection meet,
The basest weed outbraves his dignity:
For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds;
Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds....Read More

by Shakespeare, William
...ower is to the summer sweet, 
Though to itself it only live and die; 
But if that flower with base infection meet, 
The basest weed outbraves his dignity: 
 For sweetest things turn sourest by their deeds; 
 Lilies that fester smell far worse than weeds....Read More

by Swift, Jonathan
...me,
That often I have been to blame:
I must confess, on Friday last,
Wretch that I was! I broke my fast:
But I defy the basest tongue
To prove I did my neighbour wrong;
Or ever went to seek my food
By rapine, theft, or thirst of blood."

The ass, approaching next, confess'd
That in his heart he lov'd a jest:
A wag he was, he needs must own,
And could not let a dunce alone:
Sometimes his friend he would not spare,
And might perhaps be too severe:
But yet, the worst that co...Read More

by Kipling, Rudyard
...ed.
And, since he weighed men from his youth, and no lie long deceived him,
He spoke and exacted the truth, and the basest believed him.

And God poured him an exquisite wine, that was daily renewed to him,
In the clear-welling love of his peoples that daily accrued to him.
Honour and service we gave him, rejoicingly fearless;
Faith absolute, trust beyond speech and a friendship as peerless.
And since he was Master and Servant in all that we asked him,
We lean...Read More

by Jonson, Ben
...r>luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/invisiline.gif"> Then in a soil hast planted me,     Where breathe the basest of thy fools,  Where envious arts professed be,     And pride and ignorance the schools :luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/invisiline.gif"> Where nothing is examin'd, weigh'd,     But as 'tis rumour'd, so believed ; luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/invisiline.gif"> Bu...Read More

by Sidney, Sir Philip
...my selfe my prayer is, the morning: 
My fire is more, then can be made with forrests; 
My state more base, then are the basest vallies: 
I wish no euenings more to see, each euening; 
Shamed I hate my selfe in sight of mountaines, 
And stoppe mine eares, lest I growe mad with Musicke. 

Strephon. 

For she, whose parts maintainde a perfect musique, 
Whose beautie shin'de more then the blushing morning, 
Who much did passe in state the stately mountaines, 
In straightn...Read More

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