Famous Cannot Poems by Famous Poets
These are examples of famous Cannot poems written by some of the greatest and most-well-known modern and classical poets. PoetrySoup is a great educational poetry resource of famous cannot poems. These examples illustrate what a famous cannot poem looks like and its form, scheme, or style (where appropriate).
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by
Emily Dickinson
I cannot want it more --
I cannot want it less --
My Human Nature's fullest force
Expends itself on this.
And yet it nothing is
To him who easy owns --
Is Worth itself or Distance
He fathoms who obtains....Read more of this...
by
Michael Drayton
To Humor
You cannot love, my pretty heart, and why?
There was a time you told me that you would;
But now again you will the same deny,
If it might please you, would to God you could.
What, will you hate? Nay, that you will not, neither.
Nor love nor hate, how then? What will you do?
What, will...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
A transport one cannot contain
May yet a transport be --
Though God forbid it lift the lid --
Unto its Ecstasy!
A Diagram -- of Rapture!
A sixpence at a Show --
With Holy Ghosts in Cages!
The Universe would go!...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
I cannot meet the Spring unmoved --
I feel the old desire --
A Hurry with a lingering, mixed,
A Warrant to be fair --
A Competition in my sense
With something hid in Her --
And as she vanishes, Remorse
I saw no more of Her....Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
You cannot make Remembrance grow
When it has lost its Root --
The tightening the Soil around
And setting it upright
Deceives perhaps the Universe
But not retrieves the Plant --
Real Memory, like Cedar Feet
Is shod with Adamant --
Nor can you cut Remembrance down
When it shall once have grown --
Its Iron Buds will sprout anew
However overthrown --...Read more of this...
by
John Wilmot
I cannot change, as others do,
Though you unjustly scorn;
Since that poor swain that sighs for you,
For you alone was born.
No, Phyllis, no, your heart to move
A surer way I'll try:
And to revenge my slighted love,
Will still love on, will still love on, and die.
When, killed with grief, Amintas lies
And you to mind shall call,
The sighs that now unpitied rise,
The...Read more of this...
by
Henry David Thoreau
Indeed, indeed, I cannot tell,
Though I ponder on it well,
Which were easier to state,
All my love or all my hate.
Surely, surely, thou wilt trust me
When I say thou dost disgust me.
O, I hate thee with a hate
That would fain annihilate;
Yet sometimes against my will,
My dear friend, I love thee still.
It were treason to our love,
And a sin to God...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
A Drunkard cannot meet a Cork
Without a Revery --
And so encountering a Fly
This January Day
Jamaicas of Remembrance stir
That send me reeling in --
The moderate drinker of Delight
Does not deserve the spring --
Of juleps, part are the Jug
And more are in the joy --
Your connoisseur in Liquours
Consults the Bumble Bee --...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
You cannot put a Fire out --
A Thing that can ignite
Can go, itself, without a Fan --
Upon the slowest Night --
You cannot fold a Flood --
And put it in a Drawer --
Because the Winds would find it out --
And tell your Cedar Floor --...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
As for me, without limpid wine I cannot live; my body
is a burden which I cannot carry without drinking of the
juice of the vine. Oh! might I be the slave of that
delicious moment when the cupbearer said to me: Another
cup! and that I had no longer strength to take it!
394...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
I cannot buy it -- 'tis not sold --
There is no other in the World --
Mine was the only one
I was so happy I forgot
To shut the Door And it went out
And I am all alone --
If I could find it Anywhere
I would not mind the journey there
Though it took all my store
But just to look it in the...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
I cannot see my soul but know 'tis there
Nor ever saw his house nor furniture,
Who has invited me with him to dwell;
But a confiding guest consult as well,
What raiment honor him the most,
That I be adequately dressed,
For he insures to none
Lest men specified adorn
Procuring him perpetual drest
By dating it a sudden feast....Read more of this...
by
Paul Eluard
I cannot be known
Better than you know me
Your eyes in which we sleep
We together
Have made for my man's gleam
A better fate than for the common nights
Your eyes in which I travel
Have given to signs along the roads
A meaning alien to the earth
In your eyes who reveal to us
Our endless solitude
Are no longer what they thought...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
Ambition cannot find him.
Affection doesn't know
How many leagues of nowhere
Lie between them now.
Yesterday, undistinguished!
Eminent Today
For our mutual hone, Immortality!...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
Alone, I cannot be --
For Hosts -- do visit me --
Recordless Company --
Who baffle Key --
They have no Robes, nor Names --
No Almanacs -- nor Climes --
But general Homes
Like Gnomes --
Their Coming, may be known
By Couriers within --
Their going -- is not --
For they've never gone --...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
You see I cannot see -- your lifetime --
I must guess --
How many times it ache for me -- today -- Confess --
How many times for my far sake
The brave eyes film --
But I guess guessing hurts --
Mine -- got so dim!
Too vague -- the face --
My own -- so patient -- covers --
Too far -- the strength --
My...Read more of this...
by
Shel Silverstein
"I cannot go to school today"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry.
I'm going blind in my right eye.
My tonsils are as big as rocks,
I've counted sixteen chicken pox.
And there's one more - that's seventeen,
And don't you think my face looks green?
My leg is...Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
The fruit of certitude he cannot pluck,
The path that leads thereto who never struck,
Nor ever shook the bough with strenuous hand;
To-day is lost; hope for to-morrow's luck....Read more of this...
by
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
WHEN unto thee I sent the page all white,
Instead of first thereon inscribing aught,
The space thou doubtless filledst up in sport.
And sent it me, to make my joy grow bright.
As soon as the blue cover met my sight,
As well becomes a woman, quick as thought
I tore it open, leaving hidden nought,
And read the well-known words of pure delight:
MY ONLY...Read more of this...
by
Ahmet Yalcinkaya
I cannot say come to you
I cannot call you while I am like you
I do not call you from climates far away
before fears
if you would find me
in gardens without nightingales
I run away
/ may be you catch me without roses
maybe you wound me /
I stand out to sea at that, it is the way
I do not look at the...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
I cannot be ashamed
Because I cannot see
The love you offer --
Magnitude
Reverses Modesty
And I cannot be proud
Because a Height so high
Involves Alpine
Requirements
And Services of Snow....Read more of this...
by
Omar Khayyam
Endure this world without my wine I cannot!
Drag on life's load without my cups I cannot!
I am the slave of that sweet moment, when
They say, «Take one more goblet,» and I cannot!...Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
Who saw no Sunrise cannot say
The Countenance 'twould be.
Who guess at seeing, guess at loss
Of the Ability.
The Emigrant of Light, it is
Afflicted for the Day.
The Blindness that beheld and blest --
And could not find its Eye....Read more of this...
by
Walter Savage Landor
MOTHER, I cannot mind my wheel;
My fingers ache, my lips are dry:
O, if you felt the pain I feel!
But O, who ever felt as I?
No longer could I doubt him true--
All other men may use deceit;
He always said my eyes were blue,
And often swore my lips were sweet....Read more of this...
by
Emily Dickinson
You love the Lord -- you cannot see --
You write Him -- every day --
A little note -- when you awake --
And further in the Day.
An Ample Letter -- How you miss --
And would delight to see --
But then His House -- is but a Step --
And Mine's -- in Heaven -- You see....Read more of this...
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