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Famous Bit By Bit Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Service, Robert William
...up and tried again.
Time after time he drafted it;
 He polished it all through the night;
He tuned and pruned till bit by bit
 He got it right.

He took his letter to the post,
 Yet long he held it in his hand.
Strangely his mood had veered, almost
 Reversed,--he could not understand.
The girl was vague, the words were vain;
 April romance had come to grief . . .
He tore his letter up again,--
 Oh blest relief!...Read more of this...



by Hunt, James Henry Leigh
...h? Friend Death, how now? 
Why all this tedious pomp of writ? 
Thou hast reclaimed it sure and slow 
For half a century bit by bit.

In faith thou knowest more to-day 
Than I do, where it can be found! 
This shrivelled lump of suffering clay, 
To which I am now chained and bound,

Has not of kith or kin a trace 
To the good body once I bore; 
Look at this shrunken, ghastly face: 
Didst ever see that face before?

Ah, well, friend Death, good friend thou art; 
Thy only fau...Read more of this...

by Berryman, John
...ben.
—You may be right, Friend Bones.
Indeed you is. Defy flyin ober de world,
de pilots, ober ofays. Bit by bit
our immemorial moans

brown down to all dere moans. I flees that, sah.
They brownin up to ourn. Who gonna win?
—I wouldn't predict.
But I do guess mos peoples gonna lose.
I never saw no pickle wifout no hand.
O my, without no hand....Read more of this...

by Villon, Francois
...shall take of you pity. 
Here are we five or six strung up, you see, 
And here the flesh that all too well we fed 
Bit by bit eaten and rotten, rent and shred, 
And we the bones grow dust and ash withal; 
Let no man laugh at us discomforted, 
But pray to God that he forgive us all. 
If we call on you, brothers, to forgive, 


Ye should not hold our prayer in scorn, though we 
Were slain by law; ye know that all alive 
Have not wit always to walk righteously; 
Make th...Read more of this...

by Belloc, Hilaire
...your toes and then your heels,
And then by gradual degrees,
Your shins and ankles, calves and knees,
Are slowly eaten, bit by bit.
No wonder Jim detested it!
No wonder that he shouted ``Hi!''

The Honest Keeper heard his cry,
Though very fat he almost ran
To help the little gentleman.
``Ponto!'' he ordered as he came
(For Ponto was the Lion's name),
``Ponto!'' he cried, with angry Frown,
``Let go, Sir! Down, Sir! Put it down!''
The Lion made a sudden stop,
He let the...Read more of this...



by Graham, Jorie
...given. . .Justice, aspen
leaves, mother attempting
suicide, the white night-flying moth
the ants dismantled bit by bit and carried in
right through the crack
in my wall. . . .How helpless
the still pool is,
upstream,
awaiting the gold blade
of their hurry. Once, indoors, a child,
I watched, at noon, through slatted wooden blinds,
a man and woman, naked, eyes closed,
climb onto each other,
on the terrace floor,
and ride--two gold currents
wrappi...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...saw her wince)
She still must keep the locket to allay
Suspicion in her husband. She would pay
Him from her savings bit by bit -- the oath
He swore at that was startling to them both.
Her resolution taken, Frau Altgelt
Adhered to it, and suffered no regret.
She found her husband all that she had felt
His music to contain. Her days were set
In his as though she were an amulet
Cased in bright gold. She joyed in her confining;
Her eyes put out her looking-gla...Read more of this...

by Verhaeren, Emile
...ll from the infinite
Coming towards him—and hath beside
Nothing to do, but in earth to hide
His multiple death, thus bit by bit,
And, with fingers irresolute, plant on it
Crosses so hastily, day by day,
Since what long times—he cannot say....Read more of this...

by Cullen, Countee
...place to write her name
Or draw her face the way she looked
That legendary night she came.

The old house crumbles bit by bit;
Each day I hear the ominous thud
That says another rent is there
For winds to pierce and storms to flood.

My orchards groan and sag with fruit;
Where, Indian-wise, the bees go round;
I let it rot upon the bough;
I eat what falls upon the ground.

The heavy cows go laboring
In agony with clotted teats;
My hands are slack; my blood is cold...Read more of this...

by McGonagall, William Topaz
...ey uttered were all in vain,
Because the boy Hall and Jonson were swept from the wreck and never rose again. 

Then bit by bit the vessel broke up, and Norberg was swept away,
Which filled the rest of the survivors hearts with great dismay;
But at length the longed for morning dawned at last,
Still with hair streaming in the wind, Mrs Lingard to the wreck held fast. 

Then Captain Lingard still held on with Lucy in his arms,
Endeavouring to pacify the child from the s...Read more of this...

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