Famous Brew Poems by Famous Poets

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

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LEscargot DOr

by Robert William Service
 O Tavern of the Golden Snail!
Ten sous have I, so I'll regale;
Ten sous your amber brew to sip
(Eight for the bock and two the tip),
And so I'll sit the evening long,
And smoke my pipe and watch the throng,
The giddy crowd that drains and drinks,
I'll watch it quiet as a sphinx;
And who among them all shall buy
For ten poor sous...Read more of this...

Jaloppy Joy

by Robert William Service
 Past ash cans and alley cats,
Fetid. overflowing gutters,
Leprous lines of rancid flats
Where the frowsy linen flutters;
With a rattle and a jar,
hark! I sing a happy ditty,
As I speed my Master far
From the poison of the City.

Speed him to the sportive sea,
Watch him walloping the briny,
Light his pipe and brew his tea
In a little wood that's piny;
Haven him to peace...Read more of this...

The Ballad Of Soulful Sam

by Robert William Service
 You want me to tell you a story, a yarn of the firin' line,
Of our thin red kharki 'eroes, out there where the bullets whine;
Out there where the bombs are bustin',
and the cannons like 'ell-doors slam --
Just order another drink, boys, and I'll tell you of Soulful Sam.

Oh, Sam, he was never 'ilarious, though I've 'ad some mates as...Read more of this...

The Faceless Man

by Robert William Service
 I'm dead.
Officially I'm dead. Their hope is past.
How long I stood as missing! Now, at last
 I'm dead.

Look in my face -- no likeness can you see,
No tiny trace of him they knew as "me".
How terrible the change!
Even my eyes are strange.
So keyed are they to pain,
That if I chanced to meet
My mother in the street
She'd look at me...Read more of this...

The Country Of Marriage

by Wendell Berry
 I.

I dream of you walking at night along the streams
of the country of my birth, warm blooms and the nightsongs
of birds opening around you as you walk.
You are holding in your body the dark seed of my sleep.

II.

This comes after silence. Was it something I said
that bound me to you, some mere promise
or, worse, the fear of loneliness and...Read more of this...

Freethinker

by Robert William Service
 Although the Preacher be a bore,
The Atheist is even more.

I ain't religious worth a damn;
My views are reckoned to be broad;
And yet I shut up like a clam
When folks get figgerin' on God;
I'd hate my kids to think like me,
And though they leave me in the lurch,
I'm always mighty glad to see
 My fam'ly trot to Church.

Although of books...Read more of this...

My Bear

by Robert William Service
 I never killed a bear because
I always thought them critters was
 So kindo' cute;
Though round my shack they often came,
I'd raise my rifle and take aim,
 But couldn't shoot.
Yet there was one full six-feet tall
Who came each night and gobbled all
 The grub in sight;
On my pet garden truck he'd feast,
Until I thought I must at least
 Give him...Read more of this...

Annuitant

by Robert William Service
 Oh I am neither rich nor poor,
 No worker I dispoil;
Yet I am glad to be secure
 From servitude and toil.
For with my lifelong savings I
 Have bought annuity;
And so unto the day I die
 I'll have my toast and tea.

When on the hob the kettle sings
 I'll make an amber brew,
And crunch my toast and think of things
...Read more of this...

A Pot Of Tea

by Robert William Service
 You make it in your mess-tin by the brazier's rosy gleam;
 You watch it cloud, then settle amber clear;
You lift it with your bay'nit, and you sniff the fragrant steam;
 The very breath of it is ripe with cheer.
You're awful cold and dirty, and a-cursin' of your lot;
 You scoff the blushin' 'alf of it, so rich and rippin'...Read more of this...

The Pelagian Drinking Song

by Hilaire Belloc
 Pelagius lived at Kardanoel
And taught a doctrine there
How, whether you went to heaven or to hell
It was your own affair.
It had nothing to do with the Church, my boy,
But was your own affair.

No, he didn't believe
In Adam and Eve
He put no faith therein!
His doubts began
With the Fall of Man
And he laughed at Original Sin.
With my row-ti-tow
Ti-oodly-ow
He laughed at original...Read more of this...

According To The Formulas Of Ancient Grecosyrian Magi

by Constantine P Cavafy
 "What distillate can be discovered from herbs
of a witching brew," said an aesthete,
"what distillate prepared according
to the formulas of ancient Grecosyrian magi
which for a day (if no longer
its potency can last), or even for a short time
can bring my twenty three years to me
again; can bring my friend of twenty two
to me again -- his beauty, his love.

"What distillate...Read more of this...

Rhyme Builder

by Robert William Service
 I envy not those gay galoots
Who count on dying in their boots;
For that, to tell the sober truth
Sould be the privilege of youth;
But aged bones are better sped
To heaven from a downy bed.

So prop me up with pillows two,
And serve me with the barley brew;
And put a pencil in my hand,
A copy book at my command;
And let my final...Read more of this...

A Boy Named Sue

by Shel Silverstein
 Well, my daddy left home when I was three,
and he didn't leave much to Ma and me,
just this old guitar and a bottle of booze.
Now I don't blame him because he run and hid,
but the meanest thing that he ever did was
before he left he went and named me Sue.

Well, he must have thought it was quite a joke,
and...Read more of this...

Highland Hospitality

by Robert William Service
 Unto his housemaid spoke the Laird:
"Tonight the Bishop is our guest;
The spare room must be warmed and aired:
To please him we will do our best.
A worthy haggis you must make,
And serve a bowl of barley bree;
We must be hearty for the sake
Of Highland Hospitality.

The feast was set, the candles lit,
The Bishop came with modest mien,
And (one surmised) was glad...Read more of this...

Winfreda

by Eugene Field
 (A BALLAD IN THE ANGLO-SAXON TONGUE)

When to the dreary greenwood gloam
Winfreda's husband strode that day,
The fair Winfreda bode at home
To toil the weary time away;
"While thou art gone to hunt," said she,
"I'll brew a goodly sop for thee."

Lo, from a further, gloomy wood,
A hungry wolf all bristling hied
And on the cottage threshold stood
And saw the dame at work inside;
And,...Read more of this...

376. Song—The Deil's awa wi' the Exciseman

by Robert Burns
 THE DEIL cam fiddlin’ thro’ the town,
 And danc’d awa wi’ th’ Exciseman,
And ilka wife cries, “Auld Mahoun,
 I wish you luck o’ the prize, man.”


Chorus.—The deil’s awa, the deil’s awa,
 The deil’s awa wi’ the Exciseman,
He’s danc’d awa, he’s danc’d awa,
 He’s danc’d awa wi’ the Exciseman.


We’ll mak our maut, and we’ll brew our drink,
 We’ll laugh, sing,...Read more of this...

Least Bee that brew --

by Emily Dickinson
 Least Bee that brew --
A Honey's Weight
Content Her smallest fraction help
The Amber Quantity --...Read more of this...

The Choice

by Lucy Maud Montgomery
 Life, come to me in no pale guise and ashen, 
I care not for thee in such placid fashion! 
I would share widely, Life, 
In all thy joy and strife, 
Would sound thy deeps and reach thy highest passion, 
With thy delight and with thy suffering rife. 

Whether I bide with thee in cot or palace, 
I would drink...Read more of this...

Insomnia

by Robert William Service
 Heigh ho! to sleep I vainly try;
Since twelve I haven't closed an eye,
And now it's three, and as I lie,
From Notre Dame to St. Denis
The bells of Paris chime to me;
"You're young," they say, "and strong and free."

I do not turn with sighs and groans
To ease my limbs, to rest my bones,
As if my bed were stuffed with stones,
No...Read more of this...

The Rape of the Lock: Canto 2

by Alexander Pope
 Not with more glories, in th' etherial plain, 
The sun first rises o'er the purpled main,
Than, issuing forth, the rival of his beams
Launch'd on the bosom of the silver Thames.
Fair nymphs, and well-dress'd youths around her shone,
But ev'ry eye was fix'd on her alone.
On her white breast a sparkling cross she wore,
Which Jews might kiss, and infidels adore.
Her lively...Read more of this...

Heroic Stanzas

by John Dryden
 Consecrated to the Glorious Memory of His 
Most Serene and Renowned Highness, Oliver,
Late Lord Protector of This Commonwealth, etc.
(Oliver Cromwell)

Written After the Celebration of his Funeral 


1

And now 'tis time; for their officious haste, 
Who would before have borne him to the sky, 
Like eager Romans ere all rites were past 
Did let too soon the sacred eagle fly....Read more of this...

377. Song—The Country Lass

by Robert Burns
 IN simmer, when the hay was mawn,
 And corn wav’d green in ilka field,
While claver blooms white o’er the lea
 And roses blaw in ilka beild!
Blythe Bessie in the milking shiel,
 Says—“I’ll be wed, come o’t what will”:
Out spake a dame in wrinkled eild;
 “O’ gude advisement comes nae ill.


“It’s ye hae wooers mony ane,
 And lassie, ye’re but...Read more of this...

The Tragedy

by Henry Lawson
 Oh, I never felt so wretched, and things never looked so blue 
Since the days I gulped the physic that my Granny used to brew; 
For a friend in whom I trusted, entering my room last night, 
Stole a bottleful of Heenzo from the desk whereon I write. 

I am certain sure he did it (though he never would...Read more of this...

The Lost Drink

by Andrew Barton Paterson
 I had spent the night in the watch-house -- 
My head was the size of three -- 
So I went and asked the chemist 
To fix up a drink for me; 
And he brewed it from various bottles 
With soda and plenty of ice, 
With something that smelt like lemon, 
And something that seemed like spice. 
It fell on...Read more of this...

The peter-bird

by Eugene Field
 Out of the woods by the creek cometh a calling for Peter,
And from the orchard a voice echoes and echoes it over;
Down in the pasture the sheep hear that strange crying for Peter,
Over the meadows that call is aye and forever repeated.
So let me tell you the tale, when, where, and how it all happened,
And, when the story is...Read more of this...

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