Famous Beat Up Poems by Famous Poets

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

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How The Favourite Beat Us

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 "Aye," said the boozer, "I tell you it's true, sir, 
I once was a punter with plenty of pelf, 
But gone is my glory, I'll tell you the story 
How I stiffened my horse and got stiffened myself. 
"'Twas a mare called the Cracker, I came down to back her, 
But found she was favourite all of a rush,...Read more of this...

The Loss Of The Eurydice

by Gerard Manley Hopkins
 Foundered March 24. 1878


 1

The Eurydice—it concerned thee, O Lord:
Three hundred souls, O alas! on board,
 Some asleep unawakened, all un-
warned, eleven fathoms fallen 

 2

Where she foundered! One stroke
Felled and furled them, the hearts of oak!
 And flockbells off the aerial
Downs' forefalls beat to the burial. 

 3

For did she pride her, freighted fully, on
Bounden bales or a...Read more of this...

Like The Trains Beat

by Philip Larkin
 Like the train's beat
Swift language flutters the lips
Of the Polish airgirl in the corner seat,
The swinging and narrowing sun
Lights her eyelashes, shapes
Her sharp vivacity of bone.
Hair, wild and controlled, runs back:
And gestures like these English oaks
Flash past the windows of her foreign talk.

The train runs on through wilderness
Of cities. Still the hammered miles
Diversify behind her face.
And all humanity of...Read more of this...

The Veils of Maya

by George William Russell
 MOTHER, with whom our lives should be,
Not hatred keeps our lives apart:
Charmed by some lesser glow in thee,
Our hearts beat not within thy heart.


Beauty, the face, the touch, the eyes,
Prophets of thee, allure our sight
From that unfathomed deep where lies
Thine ancient loveliness and light.


Self-found at last, the joy that springs
Being thyself, shall once again
Start thee upon the whirling rings
And...Read more of this...

Expectation

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
You 'll be wonderin' whut 's de reason
I 's a grinnin' all de time,
An' I guess you t'ink my sperits
[Pg 132]Mus' be feelin' mighty prime.
Well, I 'fess up, I is tickled
As a puppy at his paws.
But you need n't think I's crazy,
I ain' laffin' 'dout a cause.
You's a wonderin' too, I reckon,
Why I does n't seem to eat,
An'...Read more of this...

Last night I had a dream

by Muhammad Ali
Last night I had a dream, When I got to Africa,
I had one hell of a rumble.
I had to beat Tarzan’s behind first,
For claiming to be King of the Jungle.
For this fight, I’ve wrestled with alligators,
I’ve tussled with a whale.
I done handcuffed lightning
And throw thunder in jail.
You know I’m bad.
just last week, I murdered a rock,
Injured a stone, Hospitalized a...Read more of this...

The Haystack in the Floods

by William Morris
 Had she come all the way for this,
To part at last without a kiss?
Yea, had she borne the dirt and rain
That her own eyes might see him slain
Beside the haystack in the floods?

Along the dripping leafless woods,
The stirrup touching either shoe,
She rode astride as troopers do;
With kirtle kilted to her knee,
To which the mud splash'd wretchedly;
And the wet dripp'd...Read more of this...

Tewkesbury Road

by John Masefield
 IT is good to be out on the road, and going one knows not where, 
Going through meadow and village, one knows not whither or why; 
Through the grey light drift of the dust, in the keen cool rush of the air, 
Under the flying white clouds, and the broad blue lift of the sky. 

And to halt at...Read more of this...

A Preference

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
Mastah drink his ol' Made'a,
Missy drink huh sherry wine,
Ovahseah lak his whiskey,
But dat othah drink is mine,
Des' 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah.
Wen you git a steamin' hoe-cake
On de table, go way, man!
'D ain but one t'ing to go wid it,
'Sides de gravy in de pan,
Dat 's 'lasses an' watah, 'lasses an' watah.
W'en hit 's 'possum dat you eatin',
'Simmon beer...Read more of this...

Siege and Conquest of Alhama The

by George (Lord) Byron
 The Moorish King rides up and down,
Through Granada's royal town;
From Elvira's gate to those
Of Bivarambla on he goes.
Woe is me, Alhama!

Letters to the monarch tell 
How Alhama's city fell: 
In the fire the scroll he threw, 
And the messenger he slew.
Woe is me, Albamal

He quits his mule, and mounts his horse, 
And through the street directs his course; 
Through...Read more of this...

Trilogy of Passion: III. ATONEMENT

by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
 [Composed, when 74 years old, for a Polish lady, who excelled in
playing on the pianoforte.]

PASSION brings reason--who can pacify

An anguish'd heart whose loss hath been so great?
Where are the hours that fled so swiftly by?

In vain the fairest thou didst gain from fate;
Sad is the soul, confused the enterprise;

The glorious world, how on the sense it dies!

In million tones...Read more of this...

The Deacons Masterpiece Or The Wonderful One-Hoss Shay: A Logical Story

by Oliver Wendell Holmes
 Have you heard of the wonderful one-hoss shay, 
That was built in such a logical way
It ran a hundred years to a day,
And then, of a sudden, it -- ah, but stay,
I'll tell you what happened without delay,
Scaring the parson into fits,
Frightening people out of their wits, --
Have you ever heard of that, I say?

Seventeen hundred and fifty-five.
Georgius Secundus...Read more of this...

Lines to Him Who Will Understand Them

by Mary Darby Robinson
 THOU art no more my bosom's FRIEND; 
Here must the sweet delusion end, 
That charm'd my senses many a year, 
Thro' smiling summers, winters drear.­ 
O, FRIENDSHIP! am I doom'd to find 
Thou art a phantom of the mind? 
A glitt'ring shade, an empty name, 
An air-born vision's vap'rish flame? 
And yet, the dear DECEIT so long 
Has wak'd...Read more of this...

A Sea Child

by Bliss Carman
 The lover of child Marjory 
Had one white hour of life brim full; 
Now the old nurse, the rocking sea, 
Hath him to lull. 
The daughter of child Marjory 
Hath in her veins, to beat and run, 
The glad indomitable sea, 
The strong white sun....Read more of this...

Beat! Beat! Drums!

by Walt Whitman
 1
BEAT! beat! drums!—Blow! bugles! blow! 
Through the windows—through doors—burst like a ruthless force, 
Into the solemn church, and scatter the congregation; 
Into the school where the scholar is studying; 
Leave not the bridegroom quiet—no happiness must he have now with his bride;
Nor the peaceful farmer any peace, plowing his field or gathering his grain; 
So fierce you whirr and...Read more of this...

Sonnet

by Rupert Brooke
 Not with vain tears, when we’re beyond the sun, 
We’ll beat on the substantial doors, nor tread 
Those dusty high-roads of the aimless dead 
Plaintive for Earth; but rather turn and run 
Down some close-covered by-way of the air,
Some low sweet alley between wind and wind, 
Stoop under faint gleams, thread the shadows, find 
Some whispering ghost-forgotten nook, and...Read more of this...

About the Little Girl that Beat Her Sister

by Ann Taylor
 Go, go, my naughty girl, and kiss
Your little sister dear; 
I must not have such things as this,
And noisy quarrels here. 

What! little children scratch and fight,
That ought to be so mild;
Oh! Mary, it's a shocking sight
To see an angry child. 

I can't imagine, for my part, 
The reason for your folly; 
She did not do you any hurt
By...Read more of this...

Sonnet CX

by Francesco Petrarch
SONNET CX. Come talora al caldo tempo suole. HE LIKENS HIMSELF TO THE INSECT WHICH, FLYING INTO ONE'S EYES, MEETS ITS DEATH.  As when at times in summer's scorching heats.Lured by the light, the simple insect flies,As a charm'd thing, into the passer's eyes,Whence death the one and pain the other meets,Read more of this...

Hymn 57

by Isaac Watts
 Original sin.

Rom. 5:12, etc.; Psa. 51:5; Job 14:4. 

Backward with humble shame we look
On our original;
How is our nature dashed and broke
In our first father's fall!

To all that's good averse and blind,
But prone to all that's ill
What dreadful darkness veils our mind!
How obstinate our will!

[Conceived in sin, O wretched state!
Before we draw our breath
The first young pulse begins to...Read more of this...

The Dead-Beat

by Wilfred Owen
 He dropped, -- more sullenly than wearily,
Lay stupid like a cod, heavy like meat,
And none of us could kick him to his feet;
Just blinked at my revolver, blearily;
-- Didn't appear to know a war was on,
Or see the blasted trench at which he stared.
"I'll do 'em in," he whined, "If this hand's spared,
I'll murder them, I will."

 A low...Read more of this...

The Book of Urizen: Chapter VI

by William Blake
 1. But Los saw the Female & pitied 
He embrac'd her, she wept, she refus'd
In perverse and cruel delight
She fled from his arms, yet he followd

2. Eternity shudder'd when they saw,
Man begetting his likeness, 
On his own divided image.

3. A time passed over, the Eternals
Began to erect the tent;
When Enitharmon sick,
Felt a Worm within her womb. 

4. Yet helpless...Read more of this...

An August Midnight

by Thomas Hardy
 I 

A shaded lamp and a waving blind, 
And the beat of a clock from a distant floor: 
On this scene enter--winged, horned, and spined - 
A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore; 
While 'mid my page there idly stands 
A sleepy fly, that rubs its hands . . . 

II 

Thus meet we five, in this still place,...Read more of this...

A Hero

by Robert William Service
 Three times I had the lust to kill,
To clutch a throat so young and fair,
And squeeze with all my might until
No breath of being lingered there.
Three times I drove the demon out,
Though on my brow was evil sweat. . . .
And yet I know beyond a doubt
He'll get me yet, he'll get me yet.

I know I'm mad, I ought...Read more of this...

The Starlight Night

by Gerard Manley Hopkins
 Look at the stars! look, look up at the skies!
 O look at all the fire-folk sitting in the air!
 The bright boroughs, the circle-citadels there!
Down in dim woods the diamond delves! the elves'-eyes!
The grey lawns cold where gold, where quickgold lies!
 Wind-beat whitebeam! airy abeles set on a flare!
 Flake-doves sent floating forth at a farmyard scare!—
Ah well!...Read more of this...

On the March

by Henry Lawson
 So the time seems come at last, 
And the drums go rolling past, 
And above them in the sunlight Labour's banners float and flow; 
They are marching with the sun, 
But I look in vain for one 
Of the men who fought for freedom more than fifteen years ago. 

They were men who did the work 
Out at Blackall,...Read more of this...

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