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Famous Board Poems by Famous Poets

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

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...f all this Servile Herd the worst is He
That in proud Dulness joins with Quality,
A constant Critick at the Great-man's Board,
To fetch and carry Nonsense for my Lord.
What woful stuff this Madrigal wou'd be,
To some starv'd Hackny Sonneteer, or me?
But let a Lord once own the happy Lines,
How the Wit brightens! How the Style refines!
Before his sacred Name flies ev'ry Fault,
And each exalted Stanza teems with Thought!

The Vulgar thus through Imitation err;
As oft the Le...Read more of this...
by Pope, Alexander



...e gold-fish pond you mustn't paddle in, 
And the gate made out of a whale's jaw-bones, 
And the swings, which were for "Board-School children," 
And its gravel paths. 

And on Sundays they rang the bells, 
From Baptist and Evangelical and Catholic churches. 
They had a Salvation Army. 
I was taken to a High Church; 
The parson's name was Mowbray, 
"Which is a good name but he thinks too much of it --" 
That's what I heard people say. 

I took a little black bo...Read more of this...
by Aldington, Richard
...mnly bowed and departed,
While in silence the others sat and mused by the fireside,
Till Evangeline brought the draught-board out of its corner.
Soon was the game begun. In friendly contention the old men
Laughed at each lucky hit, or unsuccessful manoeuver,
Laughed when a man was crowned, or a breach was made in the king-row
Meanwhile apart, in the twilight gloom of a window's embrasure,
Sat the lovers, and whispered together, beholding the moon rise
Over the pallid ...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...unforgotten lord — 
The long self-exiled chieftain is restored: 
There be bright faces in the busy hall, 
Bowls on the board, and banners on the wall; 
Far chequering o'er the pictured window, plays 
The unwonted fagots' hospitable blaze; 
And gay retainers gather round the hearth, 
With tongues all loudness, and with eyes all mirth. 

II. 

The chief of Lara is return'd again: 
And why had Lara cross'd the bounding main? 
Left by his sire, too young such loss to kno...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)
...seamen, whom no danger's shape could fright, 
Unpaid, refuse to mount our ships for spite, 
Or to their fellows swim on board the Dutch, 
Which show the tempting metal in their clutch. 
Oft had he sent of Duncombe and of Legge 
Cannon and powder, but in vain, to beg; 
And Upnor Castle's ill-deserted wall, 
Now needful, does for ammunition call. 
He finds, wheres'e'er he succor might expect, 
Confusion, folly, treach'ry, fear, neglect. 
But when the Royal Charles (...Read more of this...
by Marvell, Andrew



...e,
With her still face,
She had been standing there and seen me pass, without a smile,
I sought her even to the sagging board whereat
The stout immortals sat;
But such a laughter shook the mighty hall
No one could hear me say:
Had she been seen upon the Hill that day?
And no one knew at all
How long I stood, or when at last I sighed and went away.

There is a garden lying in a lull
Between the mountains and the mountainous sea,
I know not where, but which a dream diurnal
...Read more of this...
by St Vincent Millay, Edna
...fruit of all kinds, in coat 
Rough, or smooth rind, or bearded husk, or shell, 
She gathers, tribute large, and on the board 
Heaps with unsparing hand; for drink the grape 
She crushes, inoffensive must, and meaths 
From many a berry, and from sweet kernels pressed 
She tempers dulcet creams; nor these to hold 
Wants her fit vessels pure; then strows the ground 
With rose and odours from the shrub unfumed. 
Mean while our primitive great sire, to meet 
His God-like gues...Read more of this...
by Milton, John
...ht, and gave not back one inch, and was faithful of days and
 faithful of nights, 
And chalk’d in large letters, on a board, Be of good cheer, we will not
 desert you:
How he follow’d with them, and tack’d with them—and would not
 give it up; 
How he saved the drifting company at last: 
How the lank loose-gown’d women look’d when boated from the side of
 their prepared graves; 
How the silent old-faced infants, and the lifted sick, and the sharp-lipp’d
 unshaved men...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt
...rift of character, the inkling through random types, the solidification;
The butcher in the slaughter-house, the hands aboard schooners and sloops, the raftsman,
 the
 pioneer, 
Lumbermen in their winter camp, day-break in the woods, stripes of snow on the limbs of
 trees,
 the
 occasional snapping, 
The glad clear sound of one’s own voice, the merry song, the natural life of the woods,
 the
 strong
 day’s work, 
The blazing fire at night, the sweet taste of supper, the talk,...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt
...ng
Was odd to ear and sight,
Old he was, but his locks were red,
And jests were all the words he said
Yet he was sad at board and bed
And savage in the fight.

"You sing of the young gods easily
In the days when you are young;
But I go smelling yew and sods,
And I know there are gods behind the gods,
Gods that are best unsung.

"And a man grows ugly for women,
And a man grows dull with ale,
Well if he find in his soul at last
Fury, that does not fail.

"The wrath ...Read more of this...
by Chesterton, G K
...foreign blade and hilt, 
And one was red — perchance with guilt! 
Ah! how without can blood be spilt? 
A cup too on the board was set 
That did not seem to hold sherbet. 
What may this mean? she turn'd to see 
Her Selim — "Oh! can this be he?" 

IX. 

His robe of pride was thrown aside, 
His brow no high-crown'd turban bore 
But in its stead a shawl of red, 
Wreathed lightly round, his temples wore: 
That dagger, on whose hilt the gem 
Were worthy of a diadem, 
No lon...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)
...bscurest night involv'd the sky,
Th' Atlantic billows roar'd,
When such a destin'd wretch as I,
Wash'd headlong from on board,
Of friends, of hope, of all bereft,
His floating home for ever left.

No braver chief could Albion boast
Than he with whom he went,
Nor ever ship left Albion's coast,
With warmer wishes sent.
He lov'd them both, but both in vain,
Nor him beheld, nor her again.

Not long beneath the whelming brine,
Expert to swim, he lay;
Nor soon he felt h...Read more of this...
by Cowper, William
...by sword  And ravenous plague, all perished: every tear  Dried up, despairing, desolate, on board  A British ship I waked, as from a trance restored.   Peaceful as some immeasurable plain  By the first beams of dawning light impress'd;  In the calm sunshine slept the glittering main,  The very ocean has its hour of rest,  That comes not to the human mourner's...Read more of this...
by Wordsworth, William
...her than any in all the lands! 
Where twelve great windows blazon Arthur's wars, 
And all the light that falls upon the board 
Streams through the twelve great battles of our King. 
Nay, one there is, and at the eastern end, 
Wealthy with wandering lines of mount and mere, 
Where Arthur finds the brand Excalibur. 
And also one to the west, and counter to it, 
And blank: and who shall blazon it? when and how?-- 
O there, perchance, when all our wars are done, 
The bran...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord
...or twice a week to be revarnished, and it more than once happened, when the time came for replacing it, that no one on board could remember which end of the ship it belonged to. They knew it was not of the slightest use to appeal to the Bellman about it--he would only refer to his Naval Code, and read out in pathetic tones Admiralty Instructions which none of them had ever been able to understand--so it generally ended in its being fastened on, anyhow, across the rudder....Read more of this...
by Carroll, Lewis
...ed man to mind;
     No, not from those who at the chase
     Once held his side the honoured place,
     Begirt his board, and in the field
     Found safety underneath his shield;
     For he whom royal eyes disown,
     When was his form to courtiers known!
     XXV.

     The Monarch saw the gambols flag
     And bade let loose a gallant stag,
     Whose pride, the holiday to crown,
     Two favorite greyhounds should pull down,
     That venison free and Bou...Read more of this...
by Scott, Sir Walter
...n

For, shortly for to tell it at a word,
The Soudan and the Christians every one
Were all *to-hewn and sticked* at the board, *cut to pieces*
But it were only Dame Constance alone.
This olde Soudaness, this cursed crone,
Had with her friendes done this cursed deed,
For she herself would all the country lead.

Nor there was Syrian that was converted,
That of the counsel of the Soudan wot*, *knew
That was not all to-hewn, ere he asterted*: *escaped
And Constance have t...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey
...ny rooms, the rat

That took them up and ran to hide and haunt us, encountered

At the cellar-head or heard beneath the boards. The sad rat-catcher’s

Nod and shaking head, as if he knew more than the pair of us

What lay ahead. Like Charlotte’s your hair lay in dark ringlets

On the pillow while I lay stunned and terrified and lost.

From then till now, two children grew, two fathers died;

One mad, one sad, but both alone. Together or apart our lives

Have c...Read more of this...
by Tebb, Barry
...the increased demand for his remarks: 
Six angels and twelve saints were named his clerks. 

V

This was a handsome board — at least for heaven; 
And yet they had even then enough to do, 
So many conqueror's cars were daily driven, 
So many kingdoms fitted up anew; 
Each day too slew its thousands six or seven, 
Till at the crowning carnage, Waterloo, 
They threw their pens down in divine disgust — 
The page was so besmear'd with blood and dust. 

VI 

This by the way...Read more of this...
by Byron, George (Lord)
...me that I ever would them chide.
For, though the Pope had sitten them beside,
I would not spare them at their owen board,
For, by my troth, I quit* them word for word *repaid
As help me very God omnipotent,
Though I right now should make my testament
I owe them not a word, that is not quit* *repaid
I brought it so aboute by my wit,
That they must give it up, as for the best
Or elles had we never been in rest.
For, though he looked as a wood* lion, *furious
Yet should...Read more of this...
by Chaucer, Geoffrey

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Book: Reflection on the Important Things