Famous Break Off Poems by Famous Poets

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

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Hymn 44 part 1

by Isaac Watts
 Christ's dying, rising, and reigning.

Luke 23:27,29,44-46; Mt. 27:50,57; 28:6ff. 

He dies! the friend of sinners dies!
Lo! Salem's daughters weep around;
A solemn darkness veils the skies;
A sudden trembling shakes the ground.

Come, saints, and drop a tear or two
For him who groaned beneath your load:
He shed a thousand drops for you,
A thousand drops of richer blood.

Here's love and grief beyond degree,
The...Read more of this...

Psalm 143

by Isaac Watts
 Complaint of heavy afflictions in mind and body.

My righteous Judge, my gracious God,
Hear when I spread my hands abroad,
And cry for succor from thy throne;
O make thy truth and mercy known!

Let judgment not against me pass;
Behold, thy servant pleads thy grace:
Should justice call us to thy bar,
No man alive is guiltless there.

Look down in pity, Lord, and see
The mighty...Read more of this...

The Cooks Tale

by Geoffrey Chaucer
 THE PROLOGUE.


THE Cook of London, while the Reeve thus spake,
For joy he laugh'd and clapp'd him on the back:
"Aha!" quoth he, "for Christes passion,
This Miller had a sharp conclusion,
Upon this argument of herbergage.* *lodging
Well saide Solomon in his language,
Bring thou not every man into thine house,
For harbouring by night is perilous.
*Well ought a man avised for to be* *a...Read more of this...

Who shall deliver me?

by Christina Rossetti
 God strengthen me to bear myself; 
That heaviest weight of all to bear, 
Inalienable weight of care.

All others are outside myself;
I lock my door and bar them out
The turmoil, tedium, gad-about.

I lock my door upon myself, 
And bar them out; but who shall wall 
Self from myself, most loathed of all?

If I could once lay down myself, 
And start...Read more of this...

War-Music

by Henry Van Dyke
 Break off! Dance no more!
Danger is at the door.
Music is in arms.
To signal war's alarms. 

Hark, a sudden trumpet calling
Over the hill!
Why are you calling, trumpet, calling?
What is your will? 

Men, men, men !
Men who are ready to fight
For their country's life, and the right 
Of a liberty-loving land to be
Free, free, free!
Free from a tyrant's chain, 
Free from...Read more of this...

Psalm 02

by John Milton
 Done Aug. 8. 1653. Terzetti.


Why do the Gentiles tumult, and the Nations
Muse a vain thing, the Kings of th'earth upstand
With power, and Princes in their Congregations
Lay deep their plots together through each Land,
Against the Lord and his Messiah dear.
Let us break off; say they, by strength of hand
Their bonds, and cast from us, no more to wear,
Their twisted cords:...Read more of this...

The Song Of The Mouth-Organ

by Robert William Service
 (With apologies to the singer of the "Song of the Banjo".)


I'm a homely little bit of tin and bone;
 I'm beloved by the Legion of the Lost;
I haven't got a "vox humana" tone,
 And a dime or two will satisfy my cost.
I don't attempt your high-falutin' flights;
 I am more or less uncertain on the key;
But I tell you,...Read more of this...

Give Me Back My Rags #12

by Vasko Popa
 Enough chattering violets enough sweet trash
I won't hear anything know anything
Enough enough of all

I'll say the last enough
Fill my mouth with earth
Grit my teeth

To break off you skull guzzler
To break off once for all

I'll just be what I am
Without root without branch without crown
I'll lean on myself
On my own bumps and bruises

I'll be the hawthorn stake through you
That's all...Read more of this...

The Expiration

by John Donne
 So, so, break off this last lamenting kiss,
 Which sucks two souls, and vapors both away,
Turn thou ghost that way, and let me turn this,
 And let our selves benight our happiest day,
We ask none leave to love; nor will we owe
 Any, so cheap a death, as saying, Go;
Go; and if that word have not quite kil'd thee,
...Read more of this...

A Lyric

by Paul Laurence Dunbar
My lady love lives far away,
And oh my heart is sad by day,
And ah my tears fall fast by night,
What may I do in such a plight.
Why, miles grow few when love is fleet,
And love, you know, hath flying feet;
Break off thy sighs and witness this,
How poor a thing mere distance is.
My love knows not I love her so,
And would...Read more of this...

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