Famous Buttercup Poems by Famous Poets

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

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A Thought or Two on Reading Pomfrets

by James Henry Leigh Hunt
 I have been reading Pomfret's "Choice" this spring, 
A pretty kind of--sort of--kind of thing, 
Not much a verse, and poem none at all, 
Yet, as they say, extremely natural. 
And yet I know not. There's an art in pies, 
In raising crusts as well as galleries; 
And he's the poet, more or less, who knows 
The charm that...Read more of this...

from Asphodel That Greeny Flower

by William Carlos (WCW) Williams
 Of asphodel, that greeny flower,
 like a buttercup
 upon its branching stem-
save that it's green and wooden-
 I come, my sweet,
 to sing to you.
We lived long together
 a life filled,
 if you will,
with flowers. So that
 I was cheered
 when I came first to know
that there were flowers also
 in hell.
 Today
I'm filled with the fading memory of...Read more of this...

Lord Let Me Live

by Robert William Service
 Lord, let me live, that more and more
 Your wonder world I may adore;
With every dawn to grow and grow
 Alive to graciousness aglow;
And every eve in beauty see
 Reason for rhapsody.

Lord, let me bide, that I may prove
 The buoyant brightness of my love
For sapphire sea and lyric sky
 And buttercup and butterfly;
And glory in the golden thought
...Read more of this...

Anna Who Was Mad

by Anne Sexton
 Anna who was mad,
I have a knife in my armpit.
When I stand on tiptoe I tap out messages.
Am I some sort of infection?
Did I make you go insane?
Did I make the sounds go sour?
Did I tell you to climb out the window?
Forgive. Forgive.
Say not I did.
Say not.
Say.

Speak Mary-words into our pillow.
Take me the gangling twelve-year-old
into your sunken lap.
Whisper like...Read more of this...

Despise Not Simple Things

by Anonymous
Despise not simple things:The humblest flower that wakesIn early spring, to scent the airOf woodland brakes,Should have thy love as wellAs blushing parlor rose,That never felt the perfect breathOf nature round it close.[Pg 033]Despise not simple things:The poor demand thy love,As well as those who in the hallsOf splendor move.The beggar at thy doorThou shouldst not e’er despise;For that may...Read more of this...

My Shadow

by Robert Louis Stevenson
 From Child's Garden of Verses

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me,
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see.
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head;
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed.

The funniest thing about him is the...Read more of this...

Silent Poem

by Robert Francis
 backroad leafmold stonewall chipmunk
underbrush grapevine woodchuck shadblow 

woodsmoke cowbarn honeysuckle woodpile
sawhorse bucksaw outhouse wellsweep 

backdoor flagstone bulkhead buttermilk
candlestick ragrug firedog brownbread 

hilltop outcrop cowbell buttercup
whetstone thunderstorm pitchfork steeplebush 

gristmill millstone cornmeal waterwheel
watercress buckwheat firefly jewelweed 

gravestone groundpine windbreak bedrock
weathercock snowfall starlight cockcrow...Read more of this...

A Passing Hail

by James Whitcomb Riley
 Let us rest ourselves a bit! 
Worry?-- wave your hand to it -- 
Kiss your finger-tips and smile 
It farewell a little while.

Weary of the weary way 
We have come from Yesterday, 
Let us fret not, instead, 
Of the wary way ahead.

Let us pause and catch our breath 
On the hither side of death, 
While we see the tender...Read more of this...

Turns And Movies: Rose And Murray

by Conrad Aiken
 After the movie, when the lights come up, 
He takes her powdered hand behind the wings; 
She, all in yellow, like a buttercup, 
Lifts her white face, yearns up to him, and clings; 
And with a silent, gliding step they move 
Over the footlights, in familiar glare, 
Panther-like in the Tango whirl of love, 
He fawning close on her...Read more of this...

Im saying every day

by Emily Dickinson
 I'm saying every day
"If I should be a Queen, tomorrow" --
I'd do this way --
And so I deck, a little,

If it be, I wake a Bourbon,
None on me, bend supercilious --
With "This was she --
Begged in the Market place --
Yesterday."

Court is a stately place --
I've heard men say --
So I loop my apron, against the Majesty
With bright Pins of...Read more of this...

Sonnet XII

by Alan Seeger
 Like as a dryad, from her native bole 
Coming at dusk, when the dim stars emerge, 
To a slow river at whose silent verge 
Tall poplars tremble and deep grasses roll, 
Come thou no less and, kneeling in a shoal 
Of the freaked flag and meadow buttercup, 
Bend till thine image from the pool beam up 
Arched with blue...Read more of this...

In a Spring Grove

by William Allingham
 Here the white-ray'd anemone is born, 
Wood-sorrel, and the varnish'd buttercup; 
And primrose in its purfled green swathed up, 
Pallid and sweet round every budding thorn, 
Gray ash, and beech with rusty leaves outworn. 
Here, too the darting linnet hath her nest 
In the blue-lustred holly, never shorn, 
Whose partner cheers her little brooding breast, 
Piping from some near...Read more of this...

St. Alexis Patron of Beggars

by Joyce Kilmer
 We who beg for bread as we daily tread
Country lane and city street,
Let us kneel and pray on the broad highway
To the saint with the vagrant feet.
Our altar light is a buttercup bright,
And our shrine is a bank of sod,
But still we share St. Alexis' care,
The Vagabond of God.
They gave him a home in purple Rome
And a princess for...Read more of this...

The Interrogation Of The Man Of Many Hearts

by Anne Sexton
 Who's she, that one in your arms?

She's the one I carried my bones to
and built a house that was just a cot
and built a life that was over an hour
and built a castle where no one lives
and built, in the end, a song
to go with the ceremony.

Why have you brought her here?
Why do you knock on my door
with your...Read more of this...

The Addict

by Anne Sexton
 Sleepmonger,
deathmonger,
with capsules in my palms each night,
eight at a time from sweet pharmaceutical bottles
I make arrangements for a pint-sized journey.
I'm the queen of this condition.
I'm an expert on making the trip
and now they say I'm an addict.
Now they ask why.
WHY!

Don't they know that I promised to die!
I'm keeping in practice.
I'm merely staying in shape.
The pills are a mother, but...Read more of this...

He parts Himself -- like Leaves --

by Emily Dickinson
 He parts Himself -- like Leaves --
And then -- He closes up --
Then stands upon the Bonnet
Of Any Buttercup --

And then He runs against
And oversets a Rose --
And then does Nothing --
Then away upon a Jib -- He goes --

And dangles like a Mote
Suspended in the Noon --
Uncertain -- to return Below --
Or settle in the Moon --

What come...Read more of this...

A Lady red -- amid the Hill

by Emily Dickinson
 A Lady red -- amid the Hill
Her annual secret keeps!
A Lady white, within the Field
In placid Lily sleeps!

The tidy Breezes, with their Brooms --
Sweep vale -- and hill -- and tree!
Prithee, My pretty Housewives!
Who may expected be?

The Neighbors do not yet suspect!
The Woods exchange a smile!
Orchard, and Buttercup, and Bird --
In such a little while!

And yet, how still the...Read more of this...

The Robe of Christ

by Joyce Kilmer
 (For Cecil Chesterton)

At the foot of the Cross on Calvary
Three soldiers sat and diced,
And one of them was the Devil
And he won the Robe of Christ.
When the Devil comes in his proper form
To the chamber where I dwell,
I know him and make the Sign of the Cross
Which drives him back to Hell.
And when he comes like a friendly man
And...Read more of this...

What shall I do when the Summer troubles --

by Emily Dickinson
 What shall I do when the Summer troubles --
What, when the Rose is ripe --
What when the Eggs fly off in Music
From the Maple Keep?

What shall I do when the Skies a'chirrup
Drop a Tune on me --
When the Bee hangs all Noon in the Buttercup
What will become of me?

Oh, when the Squirrel fills His Pockets
And the Berries stare
How can...Read more of this...

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