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Famous Bout Poems by Famous Poets

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

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by Burns, Robert
...HOLD it, sir, my bounden duty
To warn you how that Master Tootie,
 Alias, Laird M’Gaun,
Was here to hire yon lad away
’Bout whom ye spak the tither day,
 An’ wad hae don’t aff han’;
But lest he learn the callan tricks—
 An’ faith I muckle doubt him—
Like scrapin out auld Crummie’s nicks,
 An’ tellin lies about them;
 As lieve then, I’d have then
 Your clerkship he should sair,
 If sae be ye may be
 Not fitted otherwhere.


Altho’ I say’t, he’s gleg enough,
An’ ’bout a ho...Read more of this...



by Burns, Robert
...TMY memory’s no worth a preen;
I had amaist forgotten clean,
Ye bade me write you what they mean
 By this “new-light,”
’Bout which our herds sae aft hae been
 Maist like to fight.


In days when mankind were but callans
At grammar, logic, an’ sic talents,
They took nae pains their speech to balance,
 Or rules to gie;
But spak their thoughts in plain, braid lallans,
 Like you or me.


In thae auld times, they thought the moon,
Just like a sark, or pair o’ shoon,
Wore b...Read more of this...

by Frost, Robert
...
 While I invested him with reasons;

But now he snapped his eyes three times;
 Then shook his lantern, saying, “Ile’s
’Bout out!” and took the long way home
 By road, a matter of several miles....Read more of this...

by Bidart, Frank
...The only thing I miss about Los Angeles

is the Hollywood Freeway at midnight, windows down and
radio blaring
bearing right into the center of the city, the Capitol Tower
on the right, and beyond it, Hollywood Boulevard
blazing

--pimps, surplus stores, footprints of the stars

--descending through the city
 fast as the law would allow

through the lights, then rising to the stack...Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...do'?
Why, Ike Johnson, -- yes, fu' sho!
Come in, Ike. I's mighty glad
You come down. I t'ought you's
mad
At me 'bout de othah night,
An' was stayin' 'way fu' spite.
Say, now, was you mad fu' true
W'en I kin' o' laughed at you?
Speak up, Ike, an' 'spress yo'se'f.

'T ain't no use a-lookin' sad,
An' a-mekin' out you's mad;
Ef you's gwine to be so glum,
Wondah why you evah come.
I don't lak nobody 'roun'
Dat jes' shet dey mouf an' frown,--
Oh, now, man, don't...Read more of this...



by Trethewey, Natasha
...Here, she said, put this on your head.
She handed me a hat.
you 'bout as white as your dad,
and you gone stay like that.
Aunt Sugar rolled her nylons down
around each bony ankle,
and I rolled down my white knee socks
letting my thin legs dangle,
circling them just above water
and silver backs of minnows
flitting here then there between
the sun spots and the shadows.
This is how you hold the pole
to cast the line o...Read more of this...

by Kipling, Rudyard
...
An' the banns are up in church, for she's got the beggar hooked,
 Which is just what a girl would do.

 We fought 'bout a dog -- last week it were --
 No more than a round or two;
But I strook 'im cruel 'ard, an' I wish I 'adn't now,
 Which is just what a man can't do.

 'E was all that I 'ad in the way of a friend,
 An' I've 'ad to find one new;
But I'd give my pay an' stripe for to get the beggar back,
 Which it's just too late to do.

So it's knock out your pi...Read more of this...

by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)
...hen riche forth runnen to reche hondeselle,
Ygheyghed ygheres-yghiftes on hiygh, yghelde hem bi hond,
Debated busyly aboute tho giftes;
Ladies layghed ful loude, thoygh thay lost haden,
And he that wan watz not wrothe, that may yghe wel trawe.
Alle this mirthe thay maden to the mete tyme;
When thay had waschen worthyly thay wenten to sete,
The best burne ay abof, as hit best semed,
Whene Guenore, ful gay, graythed in the myddes,
Dressed on the dere des, dubbed al...Read more of this...

by Scannell, Vernon
...ion still, though slightly grey, 
And both his skill and gameness clearly show. 

And after this quick non-decision bout, 
As he in his dark corner gasping lies, 
He'll hear derision like a distant shout 
While kisses press like pennies on his eyes....Read more of this...

by Riley, James Whitcomb
...Tell you what I like the best -- 
'Long about knee-deep in June, 
'Bout the time strawberries melts 
On the vine, -- some afternoon 
Like to jes' git out and rest, 
And not work at nothin' else! 

Orchard's where I'd ruther be -- 
Needn't fence it in fer me! -- 
Jes' the whole sky overhead, 
And the whole airth underneath -- 
Sort o' so's a man kin breathe 
Like he ort, and kind o' has 
Elbow-room ...Read more of this...

by Milton, John
...ap me in soft Lydian airs,
Married to immortal verse,
Such as the meeting soul may pierce,
In notes with many a winding bout
Of linked sweetness long drawn out
With wanton heed and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running,
Untwisting all the chains that tie
The hidden soul of harmony;
That Orpheus' self may heave his head
From golden slumber on a bed
Of heaped Elysian flowers, and hear
Such strains as would have won the ear
Of Pluto to have quite set free
His ha...Read more of this...

by Baudelaire, Charles
...r ces canaux
Dormir ces vaisseaux
Dont l'humeur est vagabonde;
C'est pour assouvir
Ton moindre désir
Qu'ils viennent du bout du monde.
--Les soleils couchants
Revêtent les champs
Les canaux, la ville entière
D'hyacinthe et d'or;
Le monde s'endort
Dans une chaude lumière
Là, tout n'est qu'ordre et beauté,
Luxe, calme et volupté....Read more of this...

by Laurence Dunbar, Paul
...rapping her round in his stormy embrace? 
But still serenely she laughs at his rout, 
She is the victor who wins in the bout. 
So may life's passions about her soul swirl, 
Leaving it placid,—my little March girl. 

What self-possession looks out of her eyes! 
What are the wild winds, and what are the skies, 
Frowning and glooming when, brimming with life, 
Cometh the little maid ripe for the strife? 
Ah! Wind, and bah! Wind, what might have you now? 
What can you do ...Read more of this...

by Lowell, Amy
...'t no Ed ter break it in the middle
Fer dinner.
Every time I stopped stirrin' the water
I heerd the whisperin' all about me.
I stopped oftener'n I should
To see ef 'twas still ther,
An' it al'ays was.
An' gittin' louder
It seemed ter me.
Once I threw up the winder to feel the wind.
That seemed most alive somehow.
But the woods looked so kind of menacin'
I closed it quick
An' started to mangle's hard's I could,
The squeakin' was comfortin'.
Well, Ed...Read more of this...

by Masefield, John
...the fight. 

When Bill was stripped down to his bends 
I thought how long we two'd been friends, 
And in my mind, about that wire, 
I thought "He's right, I am a liar. 
As sure as skilly's made in prison 
The right to poach that copse is his'n. 
I'll have no luck tonight," thinks I. 
"I'm fighting to defend a lie. 
And this moonshiny evening's fun 
Is worse than aught I've ever done." 
And thinking that way my heart bled so 
I almost stept to Bill and...Read more of this...

by Scott, Sir Walter
...Soon will this dark and gathering cloud
     Speak on our glens in thunder loud.
     Inured to bide such bitter bout,
     The warrior's plaid may bear it out;
     But, Norman, how wilt thou provide
     A shelter for thy bonny bride?''—
     'What! know ye not that Roderick's care
     To the lone isle hath caused repair
     Each maid and matron of the clan,
     And every child and aged man
     Unfit for arms; and given his charge,
     Nor skiff nor sha...Read more of this...

by Riley, James Whitcomb
...roast' an' hot! --
An' it's so, too! -- 'cause a corn-crib got
Afire one time an' all burn' down
On "The Smoot Farm," 'bout four mile from town --
On "The Smoot Farm"! Yes -- an' the hired han'
'At worked there nen 'uz The Raggedy Man! --
 Ain't he the beatin'est Raggedy Man?
 Raggedy! Raggedy! Raggedy Man!


The Raggedy Man's so good an' kind
He'll be our "horsey," an' "haw" an' mind
Ever'thing 'at you make him do --
An' won't run off -- 'less you want him to!
I drived him ...Read more of this...

by Abercrombie, Lascelles
...much of it. 
I may be shark's meat yet. And would your spell 
Be daunting to a cuttle, think you now? 
We had a bout with one on our way here; 
It had green lidless eyes like lanterns, arms 
As many as the branches of a tree, 
But limber, and each one of them wise as a snake. 
It laid hold of our bulwarks, and with three 
Long knowing arms, slimy, and of a flesh 
So tough they'ld fool a hatchet, searcht the ship, 
And stole out of the midst of us all a man; 
Yes, ...Read more of this...

by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth
...life we led; 45 
Many the souls that sped, 
Many the hearts that bled, 
By our stern orders. 

"Many a wassail-bout 
Wore the long Winter out; 50 
Often our midnight shout 
Set the cocks crowing, 
As we the Berserk's tale 
Measured in cups of ale, 
Draining the oaken pail, 55 
Filled to o'erflowing. 

"Once as I told in glee 
Tales of the stormy sea, 
Soft eyes did gaze on me, 
Burning yet tender; 60 
And as the white stars shine 
On the dark Norway...Read more of this...

by Herrick, Robert
...st
And left of love, are crown'd.

When once the lover's rose is dead
Or laid aside forlorn,
Then willow-garlands, 'bout the head,
Bedew'd with tears, are worn.

When with neglect, the lover's bane,
Poor maids rewarded be,
For their love lost their only gain
Is but a wreath from thee.

And underneath thy cooling shade,
When weary of the light,
The love-spent youth, and love-sick maid,
Come to weep out the night....Read more of this...

Dont forget to view our wonderful member Bout poems.


Book: Shattered Sighs