Famous Brace Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Ballad of John Silver

...Spanish Water in the happy days of yore. 

We'd a long brass gun amidships, like a well-conducted ship, 
We had each a brace of pistols and a cutlass at the hip; 
It's a point which tells against us, and a fact to be deplored, 
But we chased the goodly merchant-men and laid their ships aboard. 

Then the dead men fouled the scuppers and the wounded filled the chains, 
And the paint-work all was spatter dashed with other peoples brains, 
She was boarded, she was looted, she w...Read more of this...
by Masefield, John


A Cloud in Trousers

...emen 
to climb lovingly when a heart¡¯s on fire. 
Leave it to me. 
I¡¯ll pump barrels of tears from my eyes. 
I¡¯ll brace myself against my ribs. 
I¡¯ll leap out! Out! Out! 
They¡¯ve collapsed. 
You can¡¯t leap out of a heart! 

From the cracks of the lips 
upon a smouldering face 
a cinder of a kiss rises to leap. 

Mamma! 
I cannot sing. 
In the heart¡¯s chapel the choir loft catches fire! 

The scorched figurines of words and numbers 
scurry from the skul...Read more of this...
by Mayakovsky, Vladimir

A Distance From The Sea

...To Ernest Brace

"And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was
about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto
me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and
write them not." --REVELATIONS, x, 4.

That raft we rigged up, under the water,
Was just the item: when he walked,
With his robes blowing, dark against the sky,
It was a...Read more of this...
by Kees, Weldon

A Truthful Song

...sn't a knot which the riggers knew
 But the old man made it--and better too;
 Nor there wasn't a sheet, or a lift, or a brace,
 But the old man knew its lead and place.

 Then up and spoke the caulkyers bold,
 Which was packing the pump in the afterhold:
 "Since you with us have made so free,
 Will you kindly tell what your name might be? "

 The old man kindly answered them:
 "It might be Japheth, it might be Shem,
 Or it might be Ham (though his skin was dark),
 Whereas it ...Read more of this...
by Kipling, Rudyard

A Woman Waits for Me

...ecessary for you, 
I pour the stuff to start sons and daughters fit for These States—I press with slow
 rude muscle, 
I brace myself effectually—I listen to no entreaties,
I dare not withdraw till I deposit what has so long accumulated within me. 

Through you I drain the pent-up rivers of myself, 
In you I wrap a thousand onward years, 
On you I graft the grafts of the best-beloved of me and America, 
The drops I distil upon you shall grow fierce and athletic girls, new arti...Read more of this...
by Whitman, Walt


Aix In Provence

...the penance-sheet
``About her! Let her shun the chaste,
``Or lay herself before their feet!
``Shall she whose body I embraced
``A night long, queen it in the day?
``For honour's sake no crowns, I say!''

XI.

I? What I answered? As I live,
I never fancied such a thing
As answer possible to give.
What says the body when they spring
Some monstrous torture-engine's whole
Strength on it? No more says the soul.

XII.

Till out strode Gismond; then I knew
That I was saved. I never...Read more of this...
by Browning, Robert

Auguries Of Innocence

...strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar's laurel crown.
Nought can deform the human race
Like to the armour's iron brace.
When gold and gems adorn the plough
To peaceful arts shall Envy bow.
A riddle or the cricket's cry
Is to doubt a fit reply.
The emmet's inch and eagle's mile
Make lame philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.
If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
To be in a passion you good may...Read more of this...
by Blake, William

Daffy Duck In Hollywood

...ht to be! And how little, finally, 
We take this into account! Is the puckered garance satin
Of a case that once held a brace of dueling pistols our 
Only acknowledging of that color? I like not this,
Methinks, yet this disappointing sequel to ourselves
Has been applauded in London and St. Petersburg. Somewhere
Ravens pray for us." The storm finished brewing. And thus
She questioned all who came in at the great gate, but none
She found who ever heard of Amadis,
Nor of stern A...Read more of this...
by Ashbery, John

Gawain and the Green Knight

...achched;
And sythen the brawden brynŽ of bryyght stel ryngez
Vmbeweued that wyygh vpon wlonk stuffe,
And wel bornyst brace vpon his bothe armes,
With gode cowters and gay, and glouez of plate,
And alle the godlych gere that hym gayn schulde
that tyde;
Wyth ryche cote-armure,
His gold sporez spend with pryde,
Gurde wyth a bront ful sure
With silk sayn vmbe his syde.
When he watz hasped in armes, his harnays watz ryche:
The lest lachet ouer loupe lemed of golde.
So...Read more of this...
by Eliot, T S (Thomas Stearns)

Geraint And Enid

...midmost charging, Prince Geraint 
Drave the long spear a cubit through his breast 
And out beyond; and then against his brace 
Of comrades, each of whom had broken on him 
A lance that splintered like an icicle, 
Swung from his brand a windy buffet out 
Once, twice, to right, to left, and stunned the twain 
Or slew them, and dismounting like a man 
That skins the wild beast after slaying him, 
Stript from the three dead wolves of woman born 
The three gay suits of armour whic...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Making Good

...he dole.
To me it's music of the heart and sunshine of the mind,
Serenity and sweetness of the soul.
You may not have a brace of bucks to jingle in your jeans,
Far less the dough to buy a motor car;
But though the row you're hoeing
May be grim, ungodly going,
If you think the skies are glowing -
 Then they are.

For a poor man may be wealthy and a millionaire may fail,
It all depends upon the point of view.
It's the sterling of your spirit tips the balance of the scale,
It's ...Read more of this...
by Service, Robert William

MFingal - Canto III

...atagems, he found,
And fell right craftily to ground;
Then crept to seek an hiding place,
'Twas all he could, beneath a brace;
Where soon the conq'ring crew espied him,
And where he lurk'd, they caught and tied him.


At once with resolution fatal,
Both Whigs and Tories rush'd to battle.
Instead of weapons, either band
Seized on such arms as came to hand.
And as famed Ovid paints th' adventures
Of wrangling Lapithæ and Centaurs,
Who at their feast, by Bacchus led,
Threw bottl...Read more of this...
by Trumbull, John

Paradise Lost: Book 11

...f gayest plume before him drove; 
Down from a hill the beast that reigns in woods, 
First hunter then, pursued a gentle brace, 
Goodliest of all the forest, hart and hind; 
Direct to the eastern gate was bent their flight. 
Adam observed, and with his eye the chase 
Pursuing, not unmoved, to Eve thus spake. 
O Eve, some further change awaits us nigh, 
Which Heaven, by these mute signs in Nature, shows 
Forerunners of his purpose; or to warn 
Us, haply too secure, of our disch...Read more of this...
by Milton, John

Roosters

...set door,
from the dropping-plastered henhouse floor,

where in the blue blur 
their rusting wives admire,
the roosters brace their cruel feet and glare

with stupid eyes
while from their beaks there rise
the uncontrolled, traditional cries.

Deep from protruding chests
in green-gold medals dressed,
planned to command and terrorize the rest,

the many wives 
who lead hens' lives
of being courted and despised;

deep from raw throats
a senseless order floats
all over town. A ro...Read more of this...
by Bishop, Elizabeth

See it Through

...against a trouble, 
Meet it squarely, face to face; 
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.
When it's vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through! 
Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don't let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See i...Read more of this...
by Guest, Edgar Albert

The Building of the Ship

...unch and strong, a goodly vessel, 
That shall laugh at all disaster, 
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!" 
With oaken brace and copper band, 
Lay the rudder on the sand, 
That, like a thought, should have control 
Over the movement of the whole; 
And near it the anchor, whose giant hand 
Would reach down and grapple with the land, 
And immovable and fast 
Hold the great ship against the bellowing blast! 
And at the bows an image stood, 
By a cunning artist carved in wood, 
...Read more of this...
by Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth

The Everlasting Mercy

...s now, or Sister Polly, 
Or those two housemaids at the Folly? 
Let someone nip to Biddy Price's, 
They'd all come in a brace of trices. 
Rose Davies, Sue, and Betsy Perks; 
One man, one girl, and damn all Turks." 
But, no. "More gin," they cried; "Come on. 
We'll have the girls in when it's gone." 
So round the g in went, hot and heady, 
Hot Hollands punch on top of deady. 

Hot Hollands punch on top of stout 
Puts madness in and wisdom out. 
From drunken man to drunken man ...Read more of this...
by Masefield, John

The Negatives

...
 I say, is dead, but what use 

 telling myself what I won't 
 believe. The hotel quiets 
 early at night, 
 the aged brace themselves for 
 another sleep, and offshore 
 the sea quickens its pace. I 
 am suddenly 
 old, caught in a strange country 
 for which no man would die.

THOMAS DELAIN: 
from a journal found on his person

 At night wakened by the freight 
 trains boring through the suburbs 
 of Lyon, I watched first light 
 corrode the darkness, disturb 
 what littl...Read more of this...
by Levine, Philip

The Princess (part 5)

...~ like her none the less for rating at her! 
Besides, the woman wed is not as we, 
But suffers change of frame. A lusty brace 
Of twins may weed her of her folly. Boy, 
The bearing and the training of a child 
Is woman's wisdom.' 
Thus the hard old king: 
I took my leave, for it was nearly noon: 
I pored upon her letter which I held, 
And on the little clause 'take not his life:' 
I mused on that wild morning in the woods, 
And on the 'Follow, follow, thou shalt win:' 
I thou...Read more of this...
by Tennyson, Alfred Lord

Three Songs To The One Burden

...y afternoon
On the Green Lands I walk
And wear a coat in fashion.
Memories of the talk
Of henwives and of ***** old men
Brace me and make me strong;
There's not a pilot on the perch
Knows I have lived so long.

From mountain to mountain ride the fierce horsemen.

 III

Come gather round me, players all:
Come praise Nineteen-Sixteen,
Those from the pit and gallery
Or from the painted scene
That fought in the Post Office
Or round the City Hall,
praise every man that came again,...Read more of this...
by Yeats, William Butler

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